Rao had the map drawn by Tian Fangjun in his hand, and Xiao Ye still ran around the grassland for six days, if it weren't for the two qanats marked on the map, the water in the horse team would have run out; There are still only two water umbrellas, one is in Qin Shi and the other is in Bailong Lake.

Xiao Ye didn't know when the four metals needed to make the water umbrella would be collected by chance in the stones transported back from Bailong Lake, so that the pattern of the water umbrella on the stone mill would light up.

But this time, the ten carts carried by his horse team were full of projectiles, and there were more than a dozen boxes of earth-shaking thunder, and there were thirty in each box; Each of the rear-loading fire/guns and handcuffs guards has one, and the crossbow is hung on everyone's waist.

Even the shotguns with a long range, Xiao Ye also equipped Wang Hu's team with five, and the five scouts with skill and skill had already spread ten miles ahead.

Along the faint mountain range on the left hand, I walked west for about eight hundred miles, and just when Xiao Ye was bored by the green meadow, a scout beat the horse and galloped back, "Report to a hundred households, in the highlands at the foot of the Liuli Mountain ahead, I found a tribe,"

The news of the scout made Xiao Ye, who was looking forward to the appearance of the target, and the tingling pain in his inner thigh weakened a lot, which also made Wang Hu, who was bored next to him, suddenly widen his eyes.

The horse team, which had increased their speed, rushed to the vicinity of the tribe surrounding the ditch fence before sunset, but the scouts who had gone to contact him were beaten back in embarrassment by several sharp short spears fired from behind the trench fence due to language barriers.

Liu Xiaohou, the scout with an annoyed face, if it weren't for the military order of a hundred households, he almost raised his gun and opened fire, scolded a few times, and saw that the opposite side was heavily guarded, and returned in a huff.

A short spear with a range of nearly fifty paces, and behind a thick fence, a large catapult that shook faintly, and under a metal iron helmet that began to assemble, the sergeant with deep eyes and high nose was menacing; Xiao Ye, who put down the binoculars, smiled and let out a long breath.

Luck is not bad, this should be the tribe of the Haixi people, if you pass by, then you will be unjustly killed, and the water bags on the cart are basically empty. Without the support of water sources, Xiao Ye had already realized the harsh side of the grassland.

After thinking about it, Xiao Ye called Wang Hu, and took out a tightly wrapped cloth bag from the side pocket of the saddle, "You take off your weapon, go to them, and give this cloth bag to their leader,"

"Oh, Xia Guan understands," Wang Hu, who knew that the hundred households were strict in governing the army, didn't dare to say more, so he answered and took the black package.

took off the rear-loading gun on his back, and the leather bag with the scimitar, projectile leather case, and military anger was also untied, and after thinking about it, Wang Hu untied the leather bag containing three earth-shattering thunderbolts from the saddle and handed them all over to his subordinates; With only a short hand-relief knife inserted in his leather boots, Wang Hu carried a cloth bag and urged him to step forward.

Before leaving for the grassland, the mandarin duck battle jacket had been taken off and left in Shiguantun, but in Wang Hu's sheepskin coat, the earthy yellow protective clothing was carefully worn close to the body like Xiao Liuzi.

Holding the package back and forth, Wang Hu shouted loudly, and slowly rode close to the wide trench, and three hundred paces away from the trench, he simply jumped off his horse, pulled the reins of the horse and walked slowly.

Maybe it was because he felt his kindness, maybe it was because he didn't have the dense pigtails on his head, but this time there was no short spear to hit him.

However, the faintly creaking trebuchet behind the fence and a dozen long and tall wooden frames were enough to make Wang Hu's face stiffen.

The thick wooden gate wrapped in leather rope slowly pushed open a small slit, and a stout short middle-aged man, with a bearded face, twisted together and a long-handled broad-bladed iron axe in his hand, stood on the edge of the trench in front of Wang Hu, with a pair of vigilant eyes, staring at the stranger who came over.

If there is an anomaly, he will retreat to the defensive circle inside the fence in the shortest possible time. However, Wang Hu's short and sturdy figure and no weapons still made the strong man feel at ease to put the iron axe on the ground, and his big hands full of golden hair pressed on the wooden handle.

Across the trench that was one zhang wide and two people deep, Wang Hu looked at this strong man with half leather armor and short-waisted leather boots, and a smile appeared on his face, and it was not easy to smile.

"This strong man, I am Wang Hu, the small banner official of the Shiguantun Hundred Households, and I will hand over this package to your leader by the order of the Hundred Households," Wang Hu said with a stiff order in his mouth; You know, when he talks to the sergeants, it's a series of vernacular.

His eyes stared straight at Wang Hu, this guarded middle-aged strong man didn't pay attention to the kindness of the other party at all, but just tightened the handle of the weapon, obviously not understanding Wang Hu's words.

The strong man with a swarthy face paid attention not to Wang Hu, the unarmed messenger, but to the horse team that appeared faintly behind him; Xiao Ye and the sergeants had already arrived five hundred paces away.

"Oh, this," seeing that his politeness did not respond, Wang Hu scratched his hair in embarrassment and took off his felt hat; Although there is no military hat on the bun, this felt hat of the Tartar people is very stuffy.

Just when the two parties looked at each other speechlessly, an old man in a white robe squeezed out of the gap in the rough wooden gate, with fair and loose skin, a white-haired face, and only eyes half-hidden under the robe and hat, which shone with some essence from time to time.

"Guests from afar, are you from the Ming Dynasty?" The old man who spoke in a strange tone made Wang Hu's face happy, and he hurriedly nodded again and again, and raised the package in his hand, "We came from afar, this is a gift from our hundred households to you,"

"Thank you, then," said the old man, bowing slightly in a friendly manner, turning his face to the strong man and saying a few words in Latin, and then went back behind the fence, without any sincerity in inviting the guests.

"This old fellow, the shelf is quite big," Wang Hu, who muttered in his heart, threw the package through the ditch at the signal of the strong man; His actions made Xiao Ye, who was watching from behind, almost scold.

didn't even say a few words, meat buns beat dogs, but it was not his Xiao Ye's style; But Wang Hu let everything go, and he could only shake his head speechlessly; If the other side stubbornly ignores it, then the loss will have to be weighed by Wang Hu.

On the opposite side, a strong man with a quick hand pinched the thrown package with one hand, and without greeting him, he turned around and entered the gate, and the gate was immediately closed. Wang Hu, who was dumbfounded, gasped a few times in his chest, and forcibly held back the scolding stuck in his throat.

Stomping and riding back to Xiao Ye, Wang Hu indignantly instigated Baihu, "Lord Baihu, they are really rude, or let's use a few guns to scare them,"

Accepted the gift and turned away the guests, even Wang Hu, who was not rude, was so angry that he choked on his words, and the sergeants around him were happily rubbing their hands, but Xiao Ye was dissatisfied.

"You know how to fight, such a high fence, and a trench, how can you fight?" Xiao Ye pointed to the solid fence, "We can't deal with the trebuchets there,"

Forgetting the battle is dangerous, but the tendency of the sergeants to develop more and more in the direction of violence makes Xiao Ye quite uneasy, these sergeants who can't read a few big words, if they don't strictly restrain them, they may cause a lot of trouble.

After waiting for a stick of incense, it was almost noon, and on the damp grass, there was no sound in the horse team except for the sound of the war horses bowing their heads and grazing; Such a well-organized line made the sergeant on the opposite fence even more uneasy.

Just as Xiao Ye was hesitating whether to camp on the spot or to retreat to find a leeward place, the closed gate on the opposite side suddenly opened, and several soldiers pushed out a long wooden cart and built a cheap wooden bridge over the trench.

The old man who had met Wang Hu just now walked quickly towards Xiao Ye with more than a dozen military men wearing armor and short swords hanging from their waists; However, look at the soldier guarding the gate, with nervous faces, ready to take the wooden bridge back into the fence.

"Yes, the master is here, you show me some respect," Xiao Ye finally secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and glanced at Wang Hu fiercely, "Which one dares to spoil Lao Tzu's good deeds, you have to stay in the quarry for half a year," As for whether it is a quarry on the stone mountain or a quarry in Bailonghu, it depends on Xiao Ye's mood.

Leaving the sergeant on standby, Xiao Ye, who jumped off the war horse, took Xiao Liuzi and a personal guard, and greeted the strange master with a smile; Although they didn't have weapons in their hands, the revolver in their arms was full of projectiles, and they put down these soldiers in a hurry, and it was no problem for Xiao Ye to get out and retreat.

The guards and sergeants in the back, although the muzzle of the gun/gun in their hands was pointing downward, it was only a matter of breath when they were raised to shoot.

The two sides approached each other, and Xiao Ye, who was smiling, was five steps away, and stood still, and if he got closer, he was reluctant.

Fortunately, the other party was interested and stopped his pace.

"May I ask this hundred-household officer, did you send this mirror?" Carefully holding the vanity mirror in his hand, the old man led by him stopped in front of Xiao Ye and asked with a strange expression.

"This old man, the official Shiguantun Baihu Ximen Xiao Ye, the mirror is just a gift from the official to you, the courtesy is light and affectionate, and I hope to understand," Xiao Ye, who was not ashamed, acquiesced to the question of the visitor.

"My caravan is passing here, the first time we meet, caution is inevitable, I wonder if I can go in and trade? Our horse team has some goods, maybe you can be interested," Xiao Ye asked with a smile as he glanced at the tribe in the distance.

"Oh, great, since you have come from afar, you also invite guests into the village to talk," the old man, who claimed to be the head of the village, immediately warmly welcomed Xiao Ye to his home; As for Xiao Ye calling the official name and saying that he was a caravan again, the old man didn't care.

After confirming that Xiao Ye and his party were not Tartars, the old man felt much more relaxed.

A team of less than 30 people, no matter how powerful it is, cannot resist the siege of hundreds of soldiers, and this kind of self-confidence is based on force.

Of course, looking at the looks of the few soldiers around him, Xiao Ye's sergeant is definitely not a welcoming character.

"That's good, the official will be disrespectful, just wait for a while," Xiao Ye, who was already innocent, beckoned to Wang Hu, who was staring at him in the back, turned around and returned to the horse team, and after a few words, Shi Shiran and the old man walked towards the village with only one personal guard.

His actions, as well as the sergeants who had gathered the carriage and began to camp on the spot, made the soldiers who were secretly vigilant on the opposite side unnaturally let go of the handle of the short sword.

Under the leadership of the old man, after crossing the ditch and entering the fence wall, and entering this well-guarded tribe, Xiao Ye's eyes suddenly lit up; It's a well-ordered tribe, or rather a big village.

Rows of orderly wooden houses, on the gravel streets in the middle, armed sergeants shuttling, and groups of busy slaves, Xiao Ye had great curiosity about this so-called village in his eyes.

In the center of the village is a tall brick house facing south, surrounded by a square shoulder-high mud brick wall, indicating its status.

Walking into the gate of the courtyard wall, Xiao Ye wondered why there was a stronger fence in this wide courtyard, but he didn't ask much.

In the tall hall in the middle, with a long wooden table in the middle and thick benches on both sides, Xiao Ye sat under the old man's left hand under the guidance of a leather-armored soldier.

The thick wooden wine glass, the roasted beef on the wooden plate in front of him, the soft "steamed buns" with black and rough grains, which seemed to be roasted from wheat, looked at the simple food speechlessly, Xiao Ye was quite unappetizing.

Fortunately, the vegetable soup in a large wooden bowl was hot, which warmed Xiao Ye's stomach a lot after eating cold food for a few days.

After inviting the guests to eat a sumptuous wine and dinner, the old people who sat with them were also running in the same white clothes, and the old man sitting at the top of the house, staring at Xiao Ye's face with blazing eyes, looked very eager.

"This Ximen Baihu," cleared his throat, and the white-robed old man at the top wiped the oil stains on his mouth with his cuffs, his eyes containing hope, "Excuse me, where did you buy that mirror?" We need this news,"

"Vanity mirror?" Xiao Ye smiled and took out a white handkerchief, wiping the corners of his mouth gently, to say that in the face of foreign Yi, the psychological advantage of the Ming people is high.

"That's just our gadget, this official came this time is a businessman named Tian Fangjun, gave the map, and the goods to trade with you, this official has much better than a vanity mirror,"

His words, after the old man's relay, several old men on the bench opposite, immediately laughed, although they were afraid of the Ming Dynasty, but when it came to the skill of Gewu, from the information from their fathers, and the experience of trading with the Ming merchants, they were still quite confident.

They are here, one of the crossroads where the eastern and western trade routes converge, if it weren't for the rampant Mongolian Tatars on the steppe, perhaps this huge village would have evolved into a town; Rao is like this, the information brought by the caravan in the past has given them enough understanding of the Ming Dynasty.

Although they were quite fond of the silk, rice paper, porcelain, tea and other goods that were trafficked, it was obvious that the metal craftsmanship and smelting level of the Ming Dynasty were really unsurprising, and several old guys did not believe Xiao Ye's words at all.

However, Xiao Ye was reluctant to explain the source of the mirror, so these old men didn't ask much.

On the other side, a few old guys who were grunting Latin, although Xiao Ye couldn't understand what they said, he could see the pride on their faces, so he didn't distinguish between them, and took out a heavy pocket watch from his arms, pinched the slender gold chain, and raised his arms.

The bright pocket watch, swaying from side to side under the gold chain, immediately attracted everyone's attention.

In the quiet hall, the ticking sound of the pocket watch seemed so abrupt, and in the curious eyes of everyone, it was displayed for a while, Xiao Ye slowly put away the pocket watch and solemnly placed it on the wooden table in front of him.

"This is just one of the transactions between the official and you, the others have not been brought, but the old man wants to see the list, and the official also wants to see your sincerity," Xiao Ye, who smiled, looked at the old man kindly.

Seeing Xiao Ye's pocket watch, the shiny round object, the old man could see at a glance that it was a very delicate timer, and if he wanted to look at it carefully, he had already put it down.

Getting up, the old man respectfully bowed deeply to Xiao Ye, bluffing Xiao Ye to hurriedly get up and avoid giving back the gift, letting such an old man give him a gift, he was afraid of losing his fortune.

And his instinctive reaction finally made the old man smile deeply, the Tartar people would not be so humble, and only the real Ming people would understand what etiquette was.

"Honorable guest, this is the Hercynian tribe that you Ming people say, my name is Lushanus Cornegius Ora, you can call me the head of Ola Village, I am the leader of this village,"

After the two sides solemnly met the ceremony, the village chief of Aura cordially called the attendants, served the wine again, held the wooden wine glass, and frequently raised his glass to invite Xiao Ye; However, Xiao Ye is clever, he is simply slippery, and for the old guy's scheming, even pushing and dragging, he just doesn't get a drop of wine.

After some lively talking, seeing that it was getting late, Xiao Ye was about to say goodbye, and behind the village chief of Ola, a fair and delicate face was quietly revealed; If it weren't for the long golden hair and blue eyes, Xiao Ye would be sure that this was a beautiful girl, at least he had never seen the milky white arms.

"Oh, this is my little granddaughter Lina, she's the prettiest girl in the village," the red-faced village chief of Ola, who sat on the wooden bench and shook a little, pulled Xiao Ye affectionately and introduced.

In the face of this petite girl, Xiao Ye, who thought that he was on an equal footing with the village chief of Ola, hurriedly groped on his body, the revolver fire gun could not be sent, and a sky-shaking thunder inserted in his waist could not be used, and a few taels of silver could not be used.

The embarrassed Xiao Ye, under the gaze of a pair of azure eyes, reluctantly picked up the pocket watch, and smiled calmly with pain, "Lina, when we meet for the first time, the official doesn't have anything very good, be careful, don't be surprised,"

He was polite, but the little girl Lena was not polite at all, she stepped forward and reached for the pocket watch, and said with a displeased face, "My name is Lushanus Cornegius Lena, for the sake of the gift, allow you to call me Lena,"

The crisp and pleasant voice and fluent Daming official dialect made Xiao Ye slightly stunned, stared at this elf-like girl, and walked out of the hall with her chin raised; If it weren't for the indescribable smell in that emphasis, he would have thought that he had met the Ming people.

For the first time, he found out that the official words spoken by Waiyi were more regular than his own, and it was inevitable that he would be dumbfounded.

Village Chief Aura was sitting on a wooden bench, although his face seemed dizzy, the light in Xiao Ye's eyes still made him very happy; The beauty of the granddaughter is as it should be, to be praised.

Like those young people who pursued Lena, this delicate Ming officer, although he was a little thinner, was very tall, suitable for age, and had a vanity mirror and pocket watch, so he should have a chance.

The first meeting was dispersed, although the two sides did not talk about the main point, but the hostility was gone, and after making an appointment to trade supplies in the village the next day, Xiao Ye took the personal guard Xiao Liuzi and returned to his camp.

If you go back later, maybe Wang Hu outside the village will do something.

In the cowhide tent, Xiao Ye was lying on the soft couch that Mei'er had made of silk cotton coats, and the face of the village chief of Aura flashed in his mind, why did this old village chief and several other old people be so eager to inquire about the dressing mirror.

In the camp surrounded by carriages, the individual bunkers of the three corners were on the outside, and the little six sons inside, fully armed, led five sentry sergeants, monitoring the movements around them through the lookout.