Since Hu Baihu is going to go out to the grassland, then Tunli will have to be carefully arranged, in case he doesn't go well and let the Tartar shoot him to death, then Lei Xiaoqing, as a flag officer, can't make a difference.

This errand of escorting materials to beg for a living, in the final analysis, can not see the light, everyone opens their eyes and closes their eyes, it is Hu Baihu who has not had an accident, and the whole Shiguantun cannot get rid of the accident.

Perhaps, someone is waiting for Hu Shibiao to have an accident.

Qin Shi's team was called back, it was the Madao Stone Fort specially sent by Wang Ziliang, the twenty sergeants of Shiguantun, plus Hu Baihu's personal guards, a full forty armed sergeants, at least it was no problem to get out of the Tartars.

In the early hours of the morning, the craftsmen were busy preparing supplies, feeding the pack horses, and arranging ropes.

In the quarry stone fort, under the command of Wang Dali, one by one iron boxes were lifted out, Hu Shibiao personally stepped forward to open them one by one to check, which contained tightly wrapped thunderbolts, five in a large iron box, and were separated and pressed tightly with a large ball of linen.

"Five mines for such a big box?" Hu Shibiao looked at the items in the box and asked strangely, he had seen the mine in the God Hangar of the Gravel Castle, the one with a big head, the chance of triggering the flint was small, and no one liked to fiddle with it.

However, this kind of flat and round mine, oh, the sergeants call it a jumping mine, Hu Shibiao feels that the system is much finer, so I don't know what the effect is.

"Baihu, this kind of thunder is also afraid of bumps, you don't need to squeeze the sackcloth tightly, the road has been bumpy for a long time, I'm afraid," Kuroko made a gesture helplessly on the side, "It will explode at any time,"

"If it weren't for dealing with the Tartars, the subordinates wouldn't dare to take it,"

"This, this, such an insidious firearm, it's really troublesome to bring it," Hu Shibiao was startled and hurriedly walked away. He had seen all these iron boxes, and they contained more than thirty thunderbolts, and nothing else.

The other three similar iron boxes were closely guarded by the sergeant, and under Hu Shibiao's strong order, the sergeant reluctantly opened them.

The whole three boxes of silver nuggets simply dazzled Hu Shibiao's big eyes, but the Persians' trust in Xiao Ye made him even more jealous.

Sorting out the armament for departure, mules and horses should be selected without injury or illness, and the sergeants and soldiers returned their dry food to the stone fort of No. A to receive it, when Lei Xiaoqing and Qin Shi led the team to leave the quarry stone fort, Wang Dali commanded a group of craftsmen to start working; The production of yellow plaster cannot be stopped, which is the military order of Ximen Baihu.

There are a lot of people working in the quarry stone fort now, busy and chaotic, more than 40 people under Wang Dali, 50 people in Wang Qing's escort team, nearly 100 laborers, quarrying, carrying, taking care of the mules and horses that pull the grinding, adding stones to the stone mill, people shouting and neighing, and the people of each team have no command and work, and they have long been chaotic.

Only Shang Shetian's prospecting team has been out for four or five days, and has not returned yet; According to the message sent by the hundred households, Shang Shetian was looking around for the kind of vine grass fruit with a dark yellow core.

The purchase price is unified, fifteen wen per catty, and the military households who pick the fruit, no one will scrape the outer skin of the kernel and look at the color inside, Xiao Ye can only let Shang Shetian and them look for it one by one, and the time will drag on for a long time.

Fortunately, in the noisy mill, although there was a lot of dust, the efficiency of the rotation of the three B-shaped stone mills was quite high, and after swallowing up the stones, the yellow plaster was continuously packed into straw bags and transported out.

In order to cope with possible future Tartar raids, Xiao Ye had to accept Wang Ziliang's suggestion and began to hoard a large amount of yellow plaster, as long as the thousand households agreed, and then took out money to support, he would prepare to build a stone fort in the ruins of Shiguan.

Now it seems that the plan is not changing as fast as possible.

Hu Shibiao's eyes were boring, and it was still early before the departure time, so he glanced at the warehouse next to the military house, and returned to the hundred households with his personal guards, and he also had to leave a letter in case of accidents.

There are a lot of things here that make his eyes hot, but there are priorities, and he is not in a hurry to meddle in the matter of stone grinding, because he will not dare to take action easily because the Huang family has not yet done a good job there.

The sergeants on both sides had left, and Wang Dali was naturally down to business, and the iron crates were carried back to the storehouse of the stone fort, from which thirteen identical iron crates were carried out, and the craftsmen tied the boxes to pack horses and tied them firmly with leather ropes.

Of the thirteen long iron boxes, only two of them contained jumping mines, which were still thirty-six, and the rest contained breech-loading guns, projectiles, and crossbows and arrows, all of which were ordnance to be traded with the Haixi.

The three boxes of silver ingots will soon be transferred back to the basement of the stone fort in No. A, which is a year's salary for the military households in Shiguantun, and they must not be sloppy.

Of course, Xiao Ye explained to Wang Dali, and he would have informed Heizi that from now on, he would only receive a small part of the gold and silver for trading with the Haixi people, and most of them would be for their copper coins, and the rifle bullets were seriously lacking in raw materials.

After breakfast, under the gaze of Tian Guyji, a large group of people and horses with more than a dozen pack horses, Shi Shiran went down the stone mountain, and detoured along the horse road to the grassland.

Under Xiao Ye's authorization, Wang Ziliang and Wang Dali discussed that they couldn't let the team venture out of the canyon for the sake of Hu Shibiao, not to mention the vine grass, and the Tartar rangers there were also too closely watched.

Once encountering a large group of Tartar cavalry, the loss of goods is secondary, and the sergeant has suffered a lot of losses, and it is estimated that Xiao Ye will not spare them.

Anyway, sooner or later, Ma Dao Stone Fort will be exposed, and now it is impossible to be seen by outsiders.

Just when Hu Shibiao and the others walked into the mountain horse road, a fast horse galloped down the mountain in Shiguan Tunli, and Hu Baihu's personal guards left in Tunli hurriedly went to the gravel fort.

Passing by with the guards, there were also two figures hiding near the Huang Lianshu on the side of the road, and the small goods vendors arranged by Fang Shanshui came to Shiguantun again.

When the horse team descended the mountain, Wang Qing's escort team also gathered in the central courtyard of the quarry stone fort, and the craftsmen and hunters began to receive military crossbows and garrisoned the two stone forts respectively.

At this time, on the mountain, there were only ten sergeants left in Wang Ziliang's army, and the escort team had to go up for emergencies.

Before sunset, along the winding mountain path, the horse team went all the way to the horse road stone fort; Seeing this stone castle hidden in the deep ravine, the mouths of Hu Shibiao and the guards suddenly opened wide.

What a hell of a thing, in this remote place in the wilderness of the barren mountains, there is a tall stone fort.

When Hu Shibiao saw the sergeant on the wall of the fort, wearing a mandarin duck jacket and carrying a long gun/gun on his shoulder, he couldn't help but secretly feel numb.

This is already the territory of the Mongolian Tartars, and I can't imagine that Ximen Xixiao Ye is so bold that he dares to do this and build the stone castle under the noses of the Tartars.

It seems that this stone fort is not under the jurisdiction of Shiguantun. Hu Shibiao, who was thinking about it, saw a sergeant come forward to contact Shibao.

The stone fort is high with more than a dozen steps and a narrow fort gate, so it is very difficult for the horse team to pull in, but with the help of Wang Huwang's brothers, everyone lived in the military house smoothly; War horses, mules and horses were placed in the courtyard.

Seeing the flag officer stationed here, Hu Shibiao was still very happy, these people will be his force in the future, although he is unruly, but it depends on where it is, if the flag officer is soft here, he still doesn't dare to lie down and sleep.

Gathering sergeants and giving lectures, Hu Shibiao did a good job, if it weren't for his wrong thoughts, the ability to lead a few flag teams in Shiguantun would be more than enough.

Hu Shibiao saw the warehouse in the stone castle for the first time, there was a large pile of charcoal surrounded by a low wall outside the warehouse, in addition to the grain reserves, there were only a few boxes of ammunition in the warehouse, dozens of scimitars and round shields, and the others were not seen at all, not even the rolling wood and stones.

The entrance to the basement is in the military quarters, the northernmost military quarter, which is built with a fire kang to house the flag officer, and the sergeants are usually not allowed to enter and leave at will.

The military house left for Hu Shibiao was closest to the Nanbao Gate, where it was brighter.

There are eight umbrellas that open into a slip, and the water for everyone to eat and drink is more than enough, and even Hu Shibiao took a hot bath, which feels quite good; It's been a few days since he came to Shiguantun, and his curiosity about water umbrellas has gradually faded.

Naturally, Hu Baihu's report on Shibao's military affairs was made by Wang Meng, who was old, and Hu Shibiao didn't even believe his words.

At night, Hu Baihu and his entourage slept and occupied two military houses; The sergeants of Shiguantun could only squeeze in and stay up all night.

The five flag officers under Xiao Ye gathered together to drink ale, chew jerky, and chat leisurely in the military house of the Wang Hu brothers.

When the hundred households were there, they didn't have the opportunity to get together to drink, and they just met in the hundred households to serve a bowl and eat together, and the rest were busy with military affairs.

"I said, this Hu Baihu is not simple, he must have an idea when he came to Shiguantun," after a glass of ale wine, Qin Shishi's face turned red, and he pinched the jerky and put it in his mouth and bit it hard.

"Well, everyone understands that seeing that hundreds of households can afford to feed so many military households, they naturally know that there is a way to make money," Lei Xiaoqing said angrily, drained the wine in the cup in one gulp, and took the wine gourd to add it to himself.

"Hmph, that's because they didn't see it, we and Baihu were playing with the Tartars on the grassland, and we didn't see Brother Huang suffering in Bailong Lake,"

Wang Meng sneered and took a sip of turbid wine, and patted his chest, "How many of our brothers, the protective clothing we are wearing, I don't know how many times we have saved our lives, anyway, our lives are given by hundreds of households, which one dares to reach out indiscriminately and chew on the good deeds of hundreds of households, our hunting knife is not vegetarian,"

"That's it," several flag officials nodded one after another, Hu Shibiao slammed the door, they didn't expect to be able to give the same food and salary as the hundred households in Ximen, and the family was waiting to feed themselves.

A few carts of grain pulled up the mountain in Shiguan Tunli, Hu Baihu hid it like a treasure, and he really regarded everyone as something.

If it had been a year and a half ago, maybe these soldiers would still be a little interested in the grain truck, but now, canned fried noodles and canned meat have been eaten, and some green vegetables will have a taste of life.

"If you want me to say, hehe," Lei Xiaoqing lowered his voice, his eyes showed wolf-like ferocity, and his thin fingers pulled horizontally under his throat, "This is a scourge, it's better to be,"

"Silence, don't talk nonsense," Wang Meng was the most steady among the several people, and hurriedly waved his hand to interrupt Heizi's words, "Without the order of Ximen Baihu, no one is allowed to mess around, if the affairs of Baihu are ruined, you and I can't eat sticks, don't think about going to the mill to be a coolie,"

Wang Meng's words made Lei Xiaoqing frown helplessly, and he didn't say any more, among the four people, he was rescued from the grassland by Xiao Ye, and if Xiao Ye's business was broken, he would be the first not to do it.

Leaving Wang Meng in Madao Stone Fort, Xiao Ye took a fancy to his stability, if it weren't for the shortage of manpower in Shiguantun, he would even have been left here all year round.

Seeing that Wang Meng's face was unhappy, the four young flag officials no longer discussed the matter, and turned their faces to talk about the Haixi people, and several people speculated for a long time as to why the hundred households wanted the copper coins of the Haixi people, but they did not find a reasonable explanation.

In the end, it was Lei Xiaoqing's words, "Copper coins, isn't it copper coins, the most used by everyone is copper coins, and hundreds of households are thoughtful for us,"

Although it is not hit, it is not far away.

Early the next morning, the fog in the deep ravine, the whole team of sergeants, escorting Hu Shibiao, slowly walked out of the stone fort, today, everyone is wearing Tartar-style leather jackets and leather pants, tied with cowhide ropes, and shirtless inside.

On this trip, in order to reach Haixi Village safely, Xiao Ye took out four flag teams and took out most of his family funds.

Only Hu Baihu stubbornly wore his black chain armor, lacquer-red eight-petal pointed helmet, and red da, as if standing out from the crowd. An iron spear hung next to the saddle, and it was imposing.

Although Wang Meng and Wang Hu wanted to stay here, the scouts sent had already reached the edge of the Gobi Desert, and the letter post sent back informed them that they were safe all the way.

"Hu Baihu, here is seventeen miles to the Gobi in the north, there are no Tartar rangers on the road, the scouts will explore a radius of five miles along the way, and the lower officials will not send it," at the gate of the fort, Wang Meng bowed to Hu Shibiao on the horse and said, "I wish Baihu a smooth journey,"

"Well, this is a dangerous road, you have to wait carefully," Hu Shibiao nodded calmly, looked up at the depths of the ravine, and a trace of brilliance flashed in his eyes, "Everyone, go out to the grassland, let's go,"

The Ming soldiers, for the Mongols who seriously threatened the imperial court and endangered the frontier, it is impossible to say that they hated it, if there was no entanglement of interests during the adulteration period, and internal friction continued, I am afraid that the Ming Dynasty would have driven the Mongols to the depths of the desert long ago.

However, his own people fought endlessly in the nest first, exhausted their energy, and they couldn't talk about working together.

Even the good land for horse breeding and grazing in the Hetao area is now unfamiliar to the Ming people, and the words are far away.

After Hu Shibiao and his entourage entered the Gobi Desert, four or five miles away from them, a team of pack horses marched towards the Madao Stone Fort without hurrying or slowing.

After the two messengers who contacted each other, they only informed the flag officer of the other party's news, and did not alarm Hu Shibiao.

This time, the mineral materials sent by Bailonghu to Shiguantun, except for more than a dozen bags of saltpeter sulfur, most of them are heavy ores.

This kind of Xiao Ye named a large number of needed ores, Xu Wangliang and they found an easy-to-mine area, and naturally mined them with all their might.

The horse team of Bailonghu stopped at Madao Stone Fort, and the ore was left in the Stone Fort, taking away food and ordnance, and the two sides signed and confirmed.

Due to the relationship between the control of the Galen tribe, the number of pack teams dispatched by Bailong Lake is too large, and hundreds of sturdy healthy horses are used as pack horses.

Moreover, now, Shiguantun is not the jurisdiction of Ximen Baihu, and it is inevitable to transfer ore materials from here, and there are only seven or eight pack horses left in Tunli, and Wang Qing will divide the manpower and transport them back to the quarry stone fort little by little, and the trouble can only be like this.