When Xiao Ye took advantage of the twilight before dawn to walk out of the guest room, his legs and feet were already weak, and his back was also sore and uncomfortable.

Although the young man is strong, but after being squeezed by two little ladies who don't know the depths, Xiao Ye, who is excited, is also a little unbearable.

Walked out of the room and closed the door, Xiao Ye pointed his finger and summoned the nearest guard, "Take care of the second lady's guest room, don't disturb except Xiao Ju,"

"Yes, the villain understands," the guard held a fire gun and blocked the door of the guest room.

Walking to the gatehouse of the fort gate, I pushed the door and saw that Xiao Liuzi and Xiao Ju were chatting without a word, looking drowsy, and most of the taste of staying up late was uncomfortable. Zuo Shi, who was sitting next to him, was eating scones with great interest.

Sending Xiao Ju to the door of the guest room, Xiao Ye took Xiao Liuzi and went to the mill with torches, 10,000 catties of charcoal was enough for him to take out the materials from the stone mill three times.

Five revolver firecrackers, five rear-loading firecrackers, and five boxes of sky-shaking thunderbolts consumed Xiao Ye's three chances, and the corresponding projectiles were also prepared; Xiao Liuzi took the three sergeants and ran back and forth to the weapons depot twice, only then did he clean the pile of weapons on the ground.

Xiao Ye, who was unwilling, personally picked up the shovel, let Xiao Liuzi push the wheelbarrow, poured two thousand catties of charcoal into the stone grinding eye, and took out five shotguns and projectiles, and then ended the early morning work in a daze.

Back at the Baihu Office, Xiao Ye lay down beside Mei'er, pulled a quilt and fell asleep, and slept directly until noon; Got up and ate some wheat porridge, stood outside the mill, and looked at the truckloads of charcoal transported in, Xiao Ye's eyes lit up a little more.

Speaking of which, the increase in the production of the coal pit really depends on the eyes of a few old people in Jiming Village, this kind of small carboniferous mine with a thin layer on the shallow surface, once it is dug in the wrong direction, it will take a lot of effort.

What Xiao Ye is interested in now is not the black coal, but the few young men who transported the charcoal to the stone castle; Now the armed sergeants in Shiguantun, plus the guards who are full of more than 50 people, can no longer draw manpower.

Wang Dali's five small flags, it is okay to work and watch the family, but it is impossible to count on the temperament to fight.

"Shang Wu, come here," With Xiao Ye's shout, among the few young men covered in black and ash, Shang Wu, who was a little lower, raised his head, and when he saw the Lord Baihu calling himself, he hurriedly dropped the whip in his hand and ran over with a grin.

"What's the matter, can the people in your village have enough to eat?" Looking at Shang Wu's increasingly energetic eyes, Xiao Ye asked with relief, "Tell me if the food is not enough, and the royal priest has entered another five hundred stones,"

"Enough, enough, the chief of the king and the chief of the security have set up a rule, 100 catties of charcoal for 20 catties of wheat, at the end of the day, we can save a few stones in our village, and there is enough to eat and drink, and there is still a surplus," Shang Wu, who was covered with charcoal ashes, replied in a loud voice.

However, Tunli doesn't give money now, and he only opened his eyes to the two shops, and he can't even pay for tobacco leaves. If you exchange food for money, I am afraid that you will be scolded to death by the security chief.

"That, Ximen Baihu," he said for a while, Shang Wu looked at the ground with a flushed face, if it weren't for the charcoal ash, he would probably have stuck his head in his arms.

"Big man, just say it if you have something to say, I don't like grinding and chirping," looking at Shang Wu's appearance, Xiao Ye knew that he had something, so he straightened his face and pretended to be displeased, "Don't say that I can go, there are too many business today,"

"I want to join them, can Lord Baihu agree?" Shang Wu immediately became anxious, pointed to the guards not far away, and asked eagerly; To say that they don't envy those guards is a lie, but the guards are not so easy to join.

Xiao Ye looked at Shang Wu with a smile, since he beat Sun Dezhang and took away the waist cards of his ten sergeants, he had already made up his mind, except for the sergeants in Shiguan Tunli, except for the hundred people with waist cards, he would not increase any more.

"That's a military household, even a military household can't be a personal guard casually, either the knife skills, the arrows are sharp, or the fire is very accurate, what are your strengths?" Xiao Ye saw that there were a few more guys from Jiming Village, gathered around, and asked disapprerovingly.

"We are Orion, bow and arrow hunting is a good trick, the guy who takes advantage of it is not easy to use, this terrain within a radius of 100 miles, you can touch it with your eyes closed," Without waiting for Shangwu to reply, a lean boy behind him replied loudly, looking at Lord Baihu with blank eyes.

However, if they are allowed to join the military household, they are willing, even if the family and the security chief are at the pass, I am afraid it will be difficult.

The six young hunters in front of him made Xiao Ye even more excited, if you add the experienced hunters in Jiming Village, the team composed of ground snakes is not easy to deal with.

"Go, call Qin Shishi and tell Hao Yongliang to draw a sergeant from his third small banner to come over," turning his face and commanding Xiao Liuzi, Xiao Ye looked at Shangwu and them again, his face was already full of solemnity.

"You go back and tell Shang Baochang that I, Shiguantun, want to set up a hunter team, the identity can be Orion, you don't need to join the military household, and the food and salary will be distributed according to the sergeant," his words suddenly made Shang Wu and them jump up happily.

In the afternoon, the west quarry, a gentle slope with large pits dug out by craftsmen, almost cut off the mountain road leading to Tunli at the bottom of the mountain; Shang Shetian stood on the east side of the quarry and discussed with Xiao Ye for a while before nodding solemnly.

More than a dozen hunters from Jiming Village gathered around Qin Shi saw that the hundred households of Ximen waved their hands at them, noisy and secretly rejoicing.

This afternoon, one by one, they had gone long way, washed their hands and faces in the cold stream, and had no more to dig the damn coal.

The little six sons who ran from Xiao Ye's side hurriedly roared and ran in front of Qin Shi, "Big mouth, there is an order for a hundred households, you should be a small flag in the hunter team, choose nine people,"

"Yes," Qin Shishi replied loudly, he had already made some preparations when he arrived here.

At this time, Qin Dazui can be regarded as raising his eyebrows, in the last round of the competition, his luck was not good, the three hundred steps of the moving target, two shots ran the target, and he was directly kicked by the hundred households to Hao Yongliang's team as a scout, and the opportunity is rare now.

Qin Shishi, who looks rude, is very careful when he is serious, and the first time he came into contact with a shotgun, he keenly found that the barrel of the shotgun is longer than that of the firecracker, and there are dense seven or eight grooves at the front end of the barrel Wangshan, I don't know what it is for, and I don't know if I ask others.

On a big stone, there was a fire gun, a crossbow, and Qin Shi with a shotgun on his back, waving his hand and roaring a few times at the hunters of Jiming Village, which finally suppressed the noise of these people.

"Everyone, everyone, my team needs ten hunters, not counted as a military household, the food and salary are distributed according to the sergeant, once selected, the settlement fee is two taels of silver, what ability do you have to sign up, is a mule or a horse to come out and slip away,"

Looking at the noisy bunch of people in the quarry from afar, those craftsmen and sergeants who buried their heads to load stones, not to mention envy that it was fake, but what happened in the tunli successively indicated that when he became a sergeant, his head was pinned to the waistband of his trousers, and he might be gone at some point.

Since you don't have the guts, you can only work hard for wages.

Shang Shetian, who was standing with Xiao Ye, looked at his people from a distance, how could he not understand the suffering during the period, and the wrinkled old face was full of indescribable sadness, "Ximen Baihu, they are not military households, will they fight with the Tartars in the future?" ”

"The Tartar is ferocious, once encountered, the women and children must fight to the death, otherwise the chief of the security will know," Xiao Ye smiled lightly, "Advance and retreat are death, why not splash blood on the spot, I can't say that I can survive,"

His words made the old man's heart tighten, and he squirmed his lips hesitantly, and Xiao Ye's heavy voice sounded in his ears, "In my military household, there are rescued Tartar slaves, after a winter, they don't survive on the grassland, why should the chief wander,"

"The official would rather die of resistance for the whole family, and he would not bow his head to be a slave of the Tartars," the heartfelt decision made Shang Shetian's eyes hot, and he suddenly saw the tragic fight on the stone gate thirty years ago.

The screams, the screams, the rain of arrows, the blazing fire, the night frightened him.

His original name was Zhao Tianshe, a wounded soldier who escaped, thirty years ago in Shiguan on the Ming army and the Tartar battle, not only the 1,000 Ming army was wiped out, but the survivors became captives and did not know where to go; Shiguan was also completely destroyed by the Tartars.

Afraid of the government's investigation, he had to change his surname incognito, joined the Orion Shang family, and became a hunter in the mountains.

Time passed, a once-in-a-century blizzard made him take his family to Shiguan again, and this young and vigorous hundred households was even more sharp than the irritable thousand households back then.

"Lord Baihu, they are still young, please take care of them," sighed in his heart, Shang Shetian no longer hesitated, since his fate was such a catastrophe, he had to do his best to look at the destiny of heaven.

"That's natural, the hunter team will not fight to the death with the Tartars, their task is to find out the enemy's situation, harass the Tartar brigade, and show the police to the hundred households in advance," mentioned the usefulness of the hunter team slightly, Xiao Ye sincerely comforted the old man.

"Oh, that's good, that's good," Shang Shetian's expression was relieved, and his face looked a lot better; If there is still a loss in this way, then it should be like this, no wonder the hundred households.

Soon, Qin Dazui selected ten Orions, Shang Wu was also impressively listed, and the other Orions were taken away by the chief of the security department in frustration, and they still went to sweat for the heavy task of digging charcoal today.

"Lord Baihu, in fact, those Orions are not bad," returned to Xiao Ye's side, Xiao Liuzi looked at the departing Orions with pity, "It would be good if they all stayed, in less than a month, the lighters are all good hands,"

When Xiao Ye heard this, he didn't say much, if he didn't leave some young people in Jiming Village, I'm afraid Shang Shetian would not agree to release the Orion.

"Okay, they stay, you go dig coal," Xiao Ye glanced at Xiao Liuzi, and walked towards Qin Dazui and them with a snort; The little six sons behind him stuck out his tongue in a sneering manner, and looked left and right to see if anyone heard, so he pretended to follow seriously.

In the midst of the angry shouts, Qin Shishi, who was sweating finely, finally let these ten Orions stand up straight, and seeing the Lord of the Hundred Households coming, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "Lord Baihu, the hunter team is complete, please show me,"

Xiao Ye waved his hand to make him stand up, his eyes swept over the ten happy hunters, "Congratulations to everyone, you are now the hunters of Shiguantun, go to the military house at night to fill in the roster, and someone will distribute the Anjiayin,"

"However, the silver of my Shiguantun Hundred Households is not so easy to take, once you press the handprint and draw it, hum," Xiao Ye sneered, "Although it is not a military household, but the military law is read by your small flag, you must listen carefully, and the provincial people will be wronged again after being beaten with military sticks,"

After saying a few words, Xiao Ye no longer paid attention to these stunned hunters, and called Qin Shi, "Big mouth, the hunter team will be handed over to you, how to practice is your business, half a month later, you must take responsibility for patrolling the main roads for fifty miles in the periphery,"

"Yes, the subordinates obey the order," Qin Shi knelt down again, and after seeing the hundred households leave, he got up with a big grin and looked at his subordinates with bad intentions, "Everyone, there is still time for those who want to quit, and the painting is too late at night, so it's too late to say anything,"

However, let him intimidate in every way, ten hunters are not moved at all, and the trick of scaring people is really that we have never seen the world.

That night, Qin Shi took Orion with him, drew a charge from Mrs. Mei to receive the settling-in fee, and went to Uncle Kun to get the equipment.

Five shotguns, five muskets and corresponding projectiles, a box of earth-shattering thunder, ten crossbows, ten bloody scimitars, and a single tent, plus two sets of yellow-green field equipment, made the hunters' eyes widen.

Naturally, outside the arsenal, there was a bunch of Tartar horns and arrows, dirty breastplates, and leather robes, which could be taken away as long as they pressed the handprints.

The beeping torches on the walls of the military quarters, under the shaking light, Qin Dazui took out two sets of yellow and green clothes from his huge backpack.

A set of single clothes and a set of obviously thick winter clothes, I dragged it with my hands, and looked at the hunters around me left and right, "My mother, the Lord of the Hundred Households has made a lot of money, this dress is definitely the first set in the tun, I have never seen it at all,"

Shang Wu, who was squatting beside Xiao Qi, carefully reached out and touched it, and his eyes were fiery with a smacked mouth, "Boss Qin, this number is not right, there are ten of us, not enough,"

"Yes," the hunters next to him, except for the three older ones, also stretched their necks to join in the fun, everyone wanted this rare thing.

Qin Shi opened another rucksack, took out two more quilts, put them on the kang and counted them, two sets of single clothes, two sets of winter clothes, plus two cloth blankets and two large backpacks, a total of seven, missing three.

Just when he was embarrassed, someone proposed to draw lots, but he was immediately suppressed by everyone, and the army looked at strength rather than luck; Thus, the throwing arrow, which most people agree with, began.

Holding a short crossbow arrow, a wooden strip stood in the corner of the wall fifteen steps away, on which a circle of sizes was drawn with charcoal, and shot at the center of the circle.

Qin Dazui looked at the narrow wooden strip, swallowed his saliva dryly, laughed twice and became a referee, and did not participate in the fight; Fortunately, the referee can take a cloth blanket, and the sergeants can understand it.

After some competition, the three older uncles and uncles suddenly broke out and took away two sets of winter clothes and one single coat, and the rest, the young hunters, divided the clothes in the hands of the little flag very neatly according to their ranks.

The three boys with strange and smelly arrow throwing techniques shouted that it was unfair, and strongly demanded to test the fire gun to see who was good at shooting a target a hundred steps away.

"Next time, next time there will be 100 households, hurry up," Qin Shi, who took the blanket, appeased the three hunters, and gave everyone two hours to go back to the coal pit, so that they could say goodbye to their families, and by the way, they would hand over the settlement fee to their families.

In the middle of the night, Qin Shishi, who had taken five days of dry food, took the hunters into the night, as a scout cruising outside, he understood the mind of the hundred households to form a hunter team, so he naturally would not stop on the mountain.

The next day, when Xiao Ye inadvertently saw the family members of the hunters, wearing yellow-green clothes, shopping in the shop, he realized that he was not too lenient.

This kind of clothes that don't fit well, although it aroused the curiosity of the military households, but everyone, like the two shopkeepers, obviously didn't care about the dress with the upper and lower seams, and unanimously thought it was ugly.

After two days in Shiguantun, Tian Guangcheng left, and the convoy took their goods with them; Tian Xiuxiu, who was left behind, also had to check the accounts of the shop.

The news that the Tartars were about to move west made Xiao Ye look at the rattling leaves of the Coptis tree, and became more and more uneasy, not only speeding up the mining of coal, but also urging Wang Dali from time to time to dig the stones.

As a result, the output of charcoal increased by nearly fifty percent under the stimulation of silver money, but there was obviously too much lag in the quarry, and the weakness of insufficient manpower made Xiao Ye helpless.

As the weather warms, the amount of charcoal burned by the military households in Tunli has also decreased significantly.

In the past few days, Xiao Ye has taken out a crossbow, protective clothing, vanity mirrors, and five monoculars, and he has already had a premonition that the raw materials should be exhausted again.

In the mill, taking advantage of the night, Xiao Ye, who took out ten shots and loaded the gun again, watched the pattern return to gloom, and then looked at the mountain-like charcoal outside, gritted his teeth, and waved his hand to let the guards pour a few bags of sand that had been sifted and dried into the stone grinding eye.

Bundles of rattan grass and dry branches were also stuffed into the grinding eyes, and after a set of field clothes and three thousand pieces of white paper were taken out, Xiao Ye found that there was an extra pattern in the small pattern of the chain turning: two villains, one with a whistle in his mouth, and one with a yellow earmuff in his ear.

"Letter whistle?" Xiao Ye, who couldn't figure out the situation, unconsciously pressed the button, and took out three cold iron whistles from the box that slipped out of the stone platform, as well as a big earmuff, which felt cold to the touch.

Xiao Ye doesn't know what the function of these earthy yellow objects is, but it is better to do it according to the pattern, it should not be wrong.

Out of the mill, Xiao Ye handed over an iron whistle to Xiao Liuzi, took the earmuffs himself, and stretched out his hand, "Little Liuzi, you go up to the fort wall, whistle at me, and blow hard if you don't let you listen,"

"Oh, my subordinates know," the little sixth son took the iron whistle and led one of his guards up to the fort wall; Under the watchful eye of the guards, Xiao Liuzi took a deep breath and blew the whistle vigorously against the hundred households below; However, there was no sound at all.

He was looking at the whistle strangely, when he heard a miserable cry on the plastered ground below, and hurriedly took off the earmuffs, covering his ears and rubbing them incessantly; The screaming sound from the earcups was like a thin blade, almost causing Xiao Ye to pierce the eardrums.

"Go, let Xiao Liuzi stay farther away, don't have too much effort," waving his hand to send out a personal guard, Xiao Ye pulled another tall personal guard, and directly put on earmuffs for him, "Big head, you put it on and listen, tell me if there is any movement,"

Xiao Liuzi retreated farther and farther away on the castle wall, and the guards who passed back and forth listened to Baihu's instructions, ran to let the captain go farther, and went back to listen to Baihu's next instructions, and Xiao Liuzi secretly regretted it, why only arrange two people for Baihu, and two more would not be so tired.

When a sweaty guard ran in front of the captain and asked him to take another ten steps back, Xiao Liuzi, who was already standing on a platform at the corner of the fortress wall, was directly dumbfounded, it was almost two hundred steps away, and the hundred households were still not satisfied?

There was no way, Xiao Liuzi returned to Baihu and strongly asked to ride out of the stone castle, and he wanted to run as far as he wanted outside; Xiao Ye thought about it, nodded in agreement, and took the head of the personal guard and climbed the fortress wall of the stone castle.

"Stepping," the little six sons on war horses, accompanied by a guard with torches, ran out of the fort gate, and ran three hundred paces away very simply, and carefully blew the iron whistle against the swarthy stone fort.

Just now, a guard told him that Baihu was wearing that earmuff and almost fell to the ground, and it was probably this whistle that caused the trouble; Otherwise, the big head wouldn't have become a scapegoat, carrying that thing with a distressed face.

At the edge of the quarry two thousand steps away from the stone castle, Xiao Liuzi blew the whistle again, although he knew that he couldn't make a sound, he vaguely knew that the Lord of the Hundred Households should be able to hear it.

Soon, the guards on war horses ran over again with torches, and shouted loudly, "Captain, there is an order from a hundred households, let you go to the coal pit, stop and whistle at five hundred steps, and wait for the military order,"

So back and forth, Xiao Liuzi finally failed to reach the stone coal pit, there was a mountain road ten miles away in a straight line, and he ran half slowly, and was called back to the stone castle by the guards.

Xiao Ye, who doesn't understand infrasound, can't see the use for a moment for the silent iron whistle and the earmuffs that can hear the sound.

After playing with the letter whistle for a while, he was about to go home to serve his wife; In the second half of the night, he still had to go to the guest room in the castle to work hard, ahh

There was already a simple flag in the Ming army, and the next morning, Mei'er went to be with Xiuxiu, Xiao Ye ate Mei'er's cooked wheat porridge in the hundred households, and the lookout on the fort wall ran to report that Qin Dazui's team was practicing in the low woods behind the mountain, asking for instructions on whether to return.

It's been a day and a night since they went out, Xiao Ye nodded and was about to speak, when he suddenly remembered the strange letter whistle, and suddenly couldn't sit still, "Hurry up and let them come back, I have something important,"

The iron whistle can make a whistle that can be received from five miles away, and the hunter team with earmuffs can not be more convenient, but the flag can't travel that far.

Two hours later, the ten sergeants who were covered in sourness, under the leadership of Qin Shishi, stood in front of the hundred households, and they didn't know that they had crawled there for so long, and the smell on their bodies could make people cover their noses and flee five steps away.

"Wash up and rest," after saying the four words with difficulty, Xiao Ye took his guards to avoid the desert and went to the training ground to practice the formation.

After dinner, guards were added at the gate of the tun, and Xiao Ye went to his father-in-law's house in person, and then sent someone to call Qin Dazui and a few small flags; Everyone sat in Yang Tianshou's small courtyard, studying the usefulness of the iron whistle; The officers led by Yang Tianshou were surprised by this kind of iron whistle one by one.

Fortunately, Tian Guangcheng had already left Shiguantun, otherwise the small flags gathered together would definitely arouse his suspicions.

With these old military households, coupled with Yang Tianshou's knowledge, a set of simple whistles, drawing on the characteristics of the flag, was actually sorted out into a full piece of paper.

"One long and one short, find the tartar,"

"Two long and one short, find friendly forces,"

"Two long voices, two miles,"

"Three long voices, three miles,"

In the midst of everyone's gossip and suggestions, the code paper in Xiao Ye's hand kept adding contact terms, and the first simple military code was rapidly taking shape.

It seems that there are more heralds, or the kind that knows the code of the iron whistle, Xiao Ye, who really has no one at hand, has joy on his face, and keeps thinking.

This kind of rare contact information, he will not let the sergeant easily grasp, otherwise once the iron whistle loses one, or the earmuffs fall into the hands of someone with a heart, it will be a big deal.

The old and adulterous Yang Tianshou saw his son-in-law's mind at a glance, and after everyone said almost it, after the third cup of hot tea was eaten, he dissolved the secret meeting with a smile.

He is the father-in-law of a hundred households, and he is also the gentleman of a private school, and he also has a military position, and the officers did not dare to make a mistake, so they left one after another.

"Boy, are you embarrassed?" With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Yang Tianshou looked at Xiao Ye, who was still pondering, "This is an object to be kept secret,"

"Yes, the son-in-law is very embarrassed, and it is okay to keep it secret in the tun, but when you go down the mountain, it will inevitably be known by outsiders," Xiao Ye scratched his hair in a bun, and he didn't know if his idea was too simple.

"Hehe, you still have less knowledge," Yang Tian was caress for a while, "You know, those money bank's tickets/documents, but they all rely on secret custody to sit down, once the secret custody is leaked, is it possible that the money bank will go bankrupt and turn over?" Although Xiao Ye didn't think much of his father-in-law's words, he still listened carefully.

The white stunned paper he took out, even if it was leaked in secret, which one could tamper with the handwriting, and which one could imitate the water pattern dark flower, it was still not good, and the province was complained.

Suddenly, thinking of the faint peonies in the dark flowers, Xiao Ye was a little distracted.

He hadn't seen peonies, but Xiuxiu had seen a lot, and after telling him in a joke, he was surprised that the Persians also raised valuable peonies, but he didn't know if he could buy some scarce varieties.

"Qianzhuang's secret custody is nothing more than with the help of the twenty-four directions of the Heavenly Stem Earth, Renzi, Chou Genyin, Jia Mao Yi, Chen Xunsi, Bingwu Ding, Wei Kun Shen, Geng Youxin, and Xu Qianhai, plus the years, months and hours, from the five elements gossip of the ancestors, and the compass is nothing more than that,......" Speaking of learning, Yang Tianshou, who shook his head, immediately said to his son-in-law in a dark place.

The conversation he had come to his friends in the household department earlier was now being used.

After a while, seeing Xiao Ye's eyes stagnant, Yang Tianshou shook his head helplessly, "Therefore, the placement of the whistle is best to use the secret deposit, not every day, the conversion does not stop every other month, unless the password is taken, no one can crack it, and the code code must also be changed once a year, or replaced at any time in case of emergencies,"

Xiao Ye didn't seem to understand his father-in-law's words, although he didn't accept it, but in the days to come, he still used the so-called cipher code, and he benefited a lot.

Respectfully accepted Yang Tianshou's suggestion, Xiao Ye still insisted on using a simple whistle first, but his father-in-law was very disappointed.

Xiao Ye's last request was that those boys who were studying in private schools, could they find a few older and smarter ones, serve as heralds for thousands of households, and study whistles, anyway, they are also from military households, and there is only one way to go in the future.

As for the task of cultivating these half-sized children to know how to use iron whistles and know how to listen to whistles, Yang Tianshou agreed with a smile on the corner of his eyebrows. The children who studied in the private school were provided with two meals a day, which was paid for by 100 households, and he took on this study task without any psychological barriers.

Seeing that his father-in-law had responded to this, Xiao Ye quickly said goodbye and left, and he had to go back to the mill and take out another earmuff, so that the stone castle and the mountain would echo.

Iron whistles and earmuffs only need white sand, copper, and tin, and the raw materials are still easy to obtain.