Gansu Town, the big and small merchants in the city, no one was surprised that the caravan of Baodes would come back so quickly, after all, no matter which one wants to set up a new shop, the goods must be prepared in advance.

Before the convoy entered the city, the Huang family had already sent a deacon out of the city to greet them, and the entry tax paid at the city gate was also paid by the Huang family on behalf of the Huang family.

In the courtyard behind the Fugui Building, next to the five tightly wrapped carriages, more than a dozen fat or thin businessmen were surrounded, and Huang Changzu, led by him, smiled and watched Liu Liancheng hand over a list to Baodes, who had a straight belly and chest.

Baodes looked at the list casually, and handed it to Huang Changzu casually, "Young Master Huang, a total of seventy-eight thousand three hundred and ninety taels of goods, the rich building is newly opened, ask for an auspicious one, seventy-eight thousand,"

"Okay, good, Brother Bao is happy," Huang Changzu, who was full of red face, laughed and waved his hand triumphantly, "Butler, check out and put it in the warehouse,"

Seventy-eight thousand taels of silver tickets, Baodes did not get all of them, his order in the Gansu Town Chamber of Commerce, has cost him a full fifty thousand taels, Rao is so, the thick stack of Huangjia Qianzhuang gold-edged silver tickets, enough to make those merchants salivate.

Seventy-eight thousand taels, one achievement is seven thousand eight hundred, two achievements are, oh, fifteen thousand six hundred, the golden Potdes in his eyes, pinching this stack of silver tickets, suddenly felt that maybe it should be a good money to follow the young lady's husband.

There is a way that money urges ghosts to grind, and Baodes is not a saint, but a layman who likes to eat and drink, and likes women, and the position of the shopkeeper of the rich building with a very high return made him immediately rejuvenated.

As for taking some risks, that's the way it should be, otherwise someone else would be able to do the shopkeeper; In a hurry, Bowdes, who decided to work hard for Xiao Ye, invited everyone to drink tea and talk in the attic on the third floor with a smile.

Now the rich building, not so much a shop, is more like a tea house, can go up to the second floor to talk about things, all are merchants with silver tickets in their arms, are here to talk about business; And the food on the first floor is also served to the merchants.

The stewards of the major merchants stationed on the second floor are all well-informed masters, and the task on weekdays is to have a good relationship with Baudesla, in case people leak some goods from their fingers, it is a good thing for Baili.

However, the amount of goods provided by Bauders was still too small, and in the newly established Chamber of Commerce, in order to get a little more goods, these merchants were able to break their heads noisily.

In the attic on the third floor, next to the large round table, a steward in a green robe was looking at Huang Changzu with an unkind face, "Young Master Huang, the three of you can't handle this matter well, why can we only get thirty percent of the goods, and the other seventy percent, and all three of you take it?" ”

Huang Changzu sat firmly on the mahogany chair, shaking his fan with the same expression, "Steward Jin, we take the goods by shares, and besides, which of these goods is worth a lot of money, the purchase price is like this, the selling price, out of the boundary of Gansu Town, it's not up to you to have the final say,"

"The Chamber of Commerce has recently been established, and some of the charters still need to be discussed, but for now, the Persians brought in by my Huang family and the Wang and Tian families, why can't they take more goods?"

"Besides, the business affairs of your Jin family, but in the northeast, it is better to discuss more with us merchants here," in a faint tone, with a hint of strength, Huang Changzu's statement, and the principals of the Wang and Tian families expressed their approval with a smile.

It is necessary to form a loose alliance for the sake of interests, to unite with the outside world.

"You, hmph," Steward Jin flicked his sleeves helplessly, and sat down angrily, the situation is stronger than people, and the strong dragon is difficult to defeat the ground snake, although he is not convinced, he has no choice but to report to the family in an urgent letter.

The other businessmen, seeing that the Jin family, which was powerful in the capital, had suffered a loss, so they could only stop at it and see if they could pick something cheaper.

Twenty pieces of protective clothing made of fine iron mesh, ten monoculars, thirty delicate vanity mirrors, two hundred sets of silk cotton coats, five magical water umbrellas, the Uzi war knife known as sharpened like clay, plus pocket watches and perfumes, what can be distributed to them is just a few samples, and it is not enough to hand them over to the family, how can they take out and sell them.

There was also a cart of goods, which was pulled away by Huang Changzu and the armed guards, and that cart of goods was the reason why the Jin family steward was dissatisfied.

In the courtyard of the Huang family, on the flat racecourse in the back garden, the carriage was parked in the shade of a tree, and two young men in white robes were leading a few officers, watching with interest as the guards lifted the oilcloth and carried down boxes of fire/guns.

These two young men were the righteous brothers of Huang Changzi, Kang Xinlong, the son of Kang Luoshi, the garrison of Gansu Town, and Luo Chuanjiang, the son of Luo Huaiji, both of whom commanded Tongzhi Luo Huaiji; The premise for Huang Changzu to make friends with brothers must be of considerable potential.

At the beginning, he took a fancy to Xiao Ye's unique channel to get the Persians' goods, so he hurried to pay respects, but he didn't expect that the Persians' shops were directly transferred to Gansu Town, so Xiao Ye's potential was invisible, and Huang Changzu naturally ignored the fate under the incense.

The Governor's Office of the Five Armies was established in the thirteenth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1380) and was used to manage the guards.

It was formerly known as the Metropolitan Governor's Office. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu (1380), Zhu Yuanzhang, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, abolished the prime minister system at the same time, and at the same time abolished the Dadu Governor's Office, and changed it to the Governor's Office of the five armies, including the Central Army, the Left Army, the Right Officer, the Front Army, and the Rear Army.

Each governor's office has a left and right governor, a positive product, and a judge of the five armies. In the nineteenth year of Yongle (1421), the capital was moved to Beijing, and the original Nanjing Five Military Governor's Mansion still existed, with no real power.

The governor's offices of the five armies were parallel to each other, not under the control of each other, and each was in direct contact with the military department, and finally asked the emperor to adjudicate.

History of the Ming Dynasty. "Career Officials" cloud: "Where the military system is maintained inside and outside, military attaches are not allowed to be levied and issued." The Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces has the power to command troops but not the right to transfer troops, and the military headquarters has the power to transfer troops but not the right to command troops, and the two check and balance each other to avoid excessive power.

The establishment of the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Forces was to restrain the generals and commanders to support their own troops, but it also weakened the military strength, so that the social and political status of the generals and non-commissioned officers became lower and lower, and the military declined day by day. History of the Ming Dynasty. The military system said: "The accumulation of light and weakness, the emphasis on concealment, hypocrisy, and all kinds of evils, to raise the world's soldiers, is not enough to defend the battle, and the Ming Dynasty will die." After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the system of guards was destroyed, and the functions and powers of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies were gradually replaced by the Ministry of War.

The general name of the five governors' offices, including the Governor's Office of the Central Army, the Governor's Office of the Left Army, the Governor's Office of the Right Army, the Governor's Office of the Former Army, and the Governor's Office of the Later Army, is the highest military institution that commands the whole army.

Zhu Yuanzhang initially set up the Generalissimo Mansion of the United Army, which was later changed to the Privy Council, and then changed to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to control the Chinese and foreign military. The Governor's Office of the Central, Left, Right, Front, and Rear Armies managed the Beijing Division and the local guards respectively.

The commander of the army of the Governor's Office, plus the titles of general soldier, deputy general soldier, staff general, guerrilla general, garrison, etc., has the real power to lead the army. In the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 80 soldiers in the country.

Gansu town belongs to the right army governor's office, there is a general military office in the city, there is a deputy general army stationed in Wuguan Town, more than 3,600 soldiers, under the jurisdiction of three guards.

The military households of each guard post are soldiers in wartime and people in peacetime, but the troops under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office are standing armies.

Inheriting the ancestors on Yuyin, Kang Luoshi was transferred from Nanjing to Gansu Town three years ago, and the youngest son Kang Xinlong arrived with his father, and soon got acquainted with the third young master of the Huang family who came here from Taiyuan to practice, Huang Changzu's ghost spirit, after several exchanges, he and Kang Xinlong became a sworn brother, Huang Changzu is the biggest.

Luo Chuanjiang, who is regarded as the head snake in the local area, in the lotus pond play, under the same smell as Huang Changzu, he also knelt down under the incense candle with Huang Sanshao and became the smallest follower; His age is half a year younger than Xiao Ye.

Kang Xinlong has thick eyebrows and big eyes, a burly figure, Luo Chuanjiang is handsome, and he is quite feminine in his speech and work, but both of them have a hobby, that is, they like to play with fire, and even like to play with guns and tigers.

One hundred rear-loading guns/guns, six thousand rounds of projectiles, put on the ground is not a small pile, Kang Xinlong and Luo Chuanjiang and other guards handed over the guns/guns, skillfully took off the cap of the gun, pulled the bolt with a bang, raised the gun to check Wangshan, the technique is quite sophisticated, obviously played for a long time.

Soon, in the back garden, there was a continuous fire/gunfire from Peng and Peng, and Huang Changzu, who hurried back, heard the sound in the front yard, and couldn't help but slow down his steps and swayed into the racecourse.

"Young master," in the respectful voices of the family guards, Huang Changzu came behind the two brothers with a smile, today he made a huge profit in business, and he was naturally in a good mood, so he didn't care about these two guys who only cared about playing with guns and forgetting etiquette.

"Peng, Peng, Peng," with the sound of gunfire, the smoke of gunpowder dispersed, and Kang Xinlong, who had fired three shots in a row, muttered in his mouth and handed the gun to the guard on the side, took another new gun, and continued to reload and shoot. Luo Chuanjiang, who was five steps away, was also repeating his movements.

The two wooden targets on the opposite side, one hundred and fifty paces away, already had traces of stars on them, but they were quite messy, and there were only two or three bullet marks in the circle of white ash painting in the center.

The two of them each fired more than a dozen guns, put down their guns/guns to rest, and their own guards ran to the opposite side, pulled up two thick wooden targets, and inserted them a hundred paces away.

"Two younger brothers, you two are really playful, don't your shoulders hurt?" Huang Changzu, who was sitting in the shade of the tree, greeted Kang Xinlong and Luo Chuanjiang with a smile, "Come on, take a sip of herbal tea and play,"

"Oh, big brother," Kang Xinlong called angrily, wiped the sweat beads on his head with a towel, and sat beside Huang Changzu in the past, picking up the teapot and drinking it.

Luo Chuanjiang walked to the other side, wiped the smoke and dust on his face with a towel, and carefully lifted his back and sat on the horse, "Big brother, is the matter done?" "Squeezing the teacup and moistening his throat shallowly.

"Well, it's almost, those guys who are full of fat want to take advantage of my Huang family, and there is no door," Huang Changzu shook his fan vigorously, "What's the matter, how about this batch of fire/guns, this is a new product that was pulled back directly,"

Affection, he still took the two brothers as free labor, and let them try the power of fire/guns, so that when they sold them to the army in the future, they had a considerable degree of certainty.

Luo Chuanjiang pondered and didn't open his mouth yet, Kang Xinlong shouted, "Big brother, the fire/gun I tried to fight is similar to a shotgun, one hundred and fifty steps, and it won't hit at all, and if it hits, it's blind, it depends on how one hundred steps are,"

The fan in his hand paused slightly, Huang Changzu raised the corners of his eyebrows, and looked at Luo Chuanjiang, he still attached great importance to this thoughtful younger brother.

"Big brother, the younger brother has tried three fire/guns, only one can hit one hundred and fifty steps, it is estimated that the Persian craftsman, the successful effect of the fire/gun is not as powerful as rumored, perhaps, the little brother thinks that what we got is not a new gun, but an old gun that has been regreased,"

I have to say that Xiao Ye's personal guards, under the guidance of the craftsman, are quite careful in cleaning up the fire/gun that is about to be scrapped, but the subtle flaws are inevitable.

Luo Chuanjiang's guess, although it is not far away, but Huang Changzu doesn't believe it, the three-eyed fire system is not also a big piece, how can there be a matter of the only son hitting the target. This is also the main reason why there is no market for rear-loading guns in Gansu Town, although the rate of fire is fast, it is not as good as bows and arrows, military crossbows to rest assured.

"This, probably not, let's follow their spies, but when we got to the grassland, we saw that there were Tartar cavalry, so we returned to guard outside the canyon, and the convoy came back only to stay in Shiguantun for one night, and the fire/gun in Ximen Xiaoye's hand was less than eighty,"

"You two try to shoot at 100 steps first, pick out the accurate fire/gun, and take the rest,"

"It's that Baodes is on the grassland, there must be a place to reserve goods, otherwise he wouldn't have come back so soon,"

At this time, Huang Changzu remembered his brother who was far away in Shiguantun, but he was not very interested in the status of a hundred households.

"Oh, Ximen Xiaoye, isn't that your brother's brother, why should the younger brother be called the third brother," Luo Chuanjiang said with a chuckle, his face showing contempt, "Maybe, I should also get to know the younger brother,"

"You, what a joke, Shiguantun? Hehe, you won't want to go again if you go, it's a dead land, there is not a single acre of land, there is no point, the military households all rely on two stone mills to live, and when they meet the goods escorted to the Persian caravan, they have to kill and wound a few people every time, and life is not easy,"

Huang Changzu's light tone was as if he was talking about irrelevant things, and a trace of gloom flashed in Luo Chuanjiang's eyes, so he didn't think about it anymore.

As he grew older, Huang Changzu's grasp of the degree of these two righteous younger brothers became more and more casual, Luo Chuanjiang was flexible and began to have something on his mind, and Kang Xinlong was also coarse and fine, but they were all disguised under the respect for the eldest brother.

The intrigue in the family, they have been used to seeing it since childhood.

"Little brother, the tea is also drunk, let's continue," Kang Xinlong, who had a rough voice, put down the teapot in his hand, got up and walked towards the table with fire/guns. The so-called fourth brother who is far away in the mountains, he doesn't admit it at all, Luo Chuanjiang is the younger brother.

Because of their status, these family members, if they can value the lowly class, it would be strange.

Peng's and Peng's gunshots rang out again, and the three of them were talking about the news on the street while trying the fire/gun shooting effect, "I heard that there are countless poisonous weeds in the Gravel Fort, north of the fire pier, and the cattle and sheep dare not eat it."

"What good things can be in the wilderness?"

Shiguantun, in the hundred households, Xiao Ye looked at the panting Qin Shi, his brows twisted, "You mean, the Tartar ranger is here, and it's in the canyon?" ”

At present, there are more than a dozen craftsmen in the canyon who are taking care of the stone mill, although the earthwork bomb is sharp in blowing up the mountain and opening the stone, but the canyon is made of plaster paving on the spot, the efficiency is quite slow, at the end of the day, can pave a stone road of fifty steps, Wang Dali is proud enough.

And Qin Shi's team was on guard in the depths of the canyon, protecting Wang Dali's craftsmen.

"That's right, it's the cavalry of the Tartars, our sergeant fired a few shots and scared them away," Qin Shi said with certainty.

"Last year was after autumn, and this year it was ahead of schedule?" Xiao Yeteng stood up, "Stone, immediately notify the royal priest, let him go to the canyon to keep an eye on him, and be ready to withdraw people to the mountain at any time,"

"Okay Baihu," Qin Shishi replied, and ran out with fire/guns.

Xiao Ye walked around the house a few times, and went out to call Xiao Liuzi, "Arrange someone immediately, go to Uncle Kun, take out all our thunderbolts and load them, and then go down the mountain to the canyon,"

In Uncle Kun's arsenal, there are not a few boxes of jumping mines, and most of the jumping mines were arranged by Xiao Ye to be sent to Bailong Lake, he was too busy for a while, not only to remember the information from Fuguilou, but also to practice the sergeant to be familiar with the use of guns and grenades, and the book was also understood word by word.

Three boxes of thirty jumping mines, two boxes of twenty geotechnical bombs, all the spare in the bar's storehouse were taken out, and the two mules and horses were carried down the mountain, and there was no need to use the carriage at all.

Less than two miles from the ruins of Shiguan to the canyon, you can hear the low explosion sound of "Tong, Tong," which is the sergeant using geotechnical bombs to blow up the stone to open the way; Further ahead, several figures squatting on the ground could be seen at a glance that Wang Dali was busy bulldozing the plaster on the ground with iron foam.

Walking forward from the stone mill of Linglu, in two days, the craftsmen under Wang Dali have already prepared hundreds of meters of ground, and the flat stucco ground has not yet dried, and it is still necessary to pour some water from time to time to dry.

These craftsmen, who had revolvers and guns hanging from their belts around their waists, first spread half of the ground on the mountain road ten paces wide with mortar and stones, and then spread the other half when it was dry and solid, so as not to delay the passage; Half of the stone blasted with a geodetonator is hammered into small pieces, half of which is sent to a stone mill and ground by mules and horses to produce plaster, and the other half becomes a mixture.

Under a recessed stone wall next to the mountain road, the B-shaped stone mill was pulled by a mule, and a sergeant put pieces of stone into the grinding eye; Beside it, two umbrellas are held by ropes to the side of the mountain road, and in the two wooden barrels below, the water continues to flow smoothly.

Xiao Liuzi took his personal guards, pulled the mules and horses carefully through the ground that had not yet rested, and went to the front to arrange the burial of thunder, and there were Qin stones in front of them to guard it.

Xiao Ye walked in front of Wang Dali, squatted down to look at the stucco floor, "Tsk, Uncle Wang, your craftsmanship is getting better and better now, looking at the ground, it is the same as a mirror, and it looks like Shiguantun's style,"

"Hehe, that's, I've been tinkering with this thing all day long, and I'm just familiar with it," Wang Dali, who had a mortar in one hand, brushed a few times and smoothed a piece of ground in front of him, handed the trowel to the craftsman next to him, stood up and beat his waist, "Baihu, I'm afraid it's this plaster floor, and the tartar will be used first,"

Looking at Uncle Wang's unhappy expression, Xiao Ye smiled and pointed to the depths of the canyon, "Uncle Wang, I want to get out of this canyon quickly, but the mountain road under my feet, the carriage will take a day, dozens of miles of mountain roads, and it is not possible to transport goods by pack horses,"

"The Tartar horses are stepping on the plastered ground, that is their blessing, our carriage is walking on it, but it is their woe,"

"As long as we can guard the exit on the other side of the canyon, if the Tartars want to enter the canyon again in the future, we have to see if the sergeants' fire/guns agree," Although his heart was empty, Xiao Ye's mouth was still very tough.

Shiguan was broken and destroyed by the Tartars several times in the early years, and Wang Dali also heard the older generation say that the traces of the tragic battle can still be vaguely seen on the ruins under the mountain, and he naturally agrees with the ambition of the hundred households from the bottom of his heart.

"That's okay, as long as there is an order from a hundred households, my Wang Dali will also pave the plaster road across the canyon," the current Wang Dali, looking at Xiao Ye is no longer looking at the stupid boy's eyes, but is willingly supporting.

Go to the front two miles away, see the place where Xiao Liuzi buried the mine, Xiao Ye turned around and went back to the stone mountain, before leaving, he specially explained to Xiao Liuzi, he must remember the location of the thunder, and pave the way here in the future, the missing thunder is a big trouble, and it will be a joke if he hurts his own people.

Although the thunder was laid, Xiao Ye still explained to Wang Dali and Wang Meng, once the Tartars showed signs of entering the canyon again, the paving of the road was immediately stopped, and all the manpower and stone grinding were withdrawn to Shiguantun.