A convoy of newly arrived caravans left Madao Stone Fort early in the morning and went to Eagle Talon Fort to trade goods with the Tartars, which had to be transported on time.

Five black-clothed guards, carrying the spirit tablets of their dead companions, rode to Shiguantun, and they were going to send the spirit tablets into the side hall of the Land Temple to join the brothers who had died earlier.

Originally, Xiao Ye wanted to build a new land temple in the Madao Stone Fort, but no one objected, but he wanted to move the spirit card from Shiguantun there, and he was indeed strongly rejected by Wang Dali.

Xiao Ye, who was helpless, could only let the craftsmen build a small land temple in the southeast corner of the fort, which was the same as the Eagle Claw Fort, but it was used for daily prayers.

The time soon came to the end of October, and in the first wave of news that the Tian family transmitted through Mu Ziqiang and then through Shiguantun, the first big news that bore the brunt of it surprised Xiao Ye.

Our wise and majestic young emperor, commanding the army in Yingzhou, fought a solid battle with the little prince of the Tartars, and drove the murderous brigade of Tartar cavalry back to the grassland, but the results were not very satisfactory, according to the battle report, the battle killed less than 100 Tartars, and dozens of casualties.

Xiao Ye disagrees with this, you must know that he and the Tartars have fought a few times, and the Tartar soldiers killed have exceeded 100 people, not to mention the battles that mobilize thousands of cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry at every turn, even if they are lost or sick on the way, the number of soldiers will be more than 100.

The great victory in Yingzhou, what can arouse Xiao Ye's uneasiness is that the only thing that can arouse Xiao Ye's uneasiness is that the two sides are tens of thousands of troops, which is why he sighs to himself, and he understands the cost of raising soldiers, which is not as simple as the flag teams earlier.

Nearly two thousand miles away, Xiao Ye hastily put it down after seeing it, and didn't care, he was already busy now.

The transaction with the merchants at the Madao checkpoint continued, but the goods brought by those merchants made Wang Dali and them quite disappointed, and the porcelain, satin and cloth that accounted for most of the goods were not in urgent need of the Madao Stone Fort at all, and the price was still high.

There are not many grains, green salt, vegetables, soy sauce, vinegar, tea and other groceries, although Wang Dali has raised the price, but what can be transported back to the Shijia shop is only enough for consumption in the fort.

Fortunately, despite the high pressure of the government, the private goods carried by the Tian family caravan, and the intentional or unintentional negligence of other caravans, can still allow Wang Dali's warehouse to accumulate some stock, which can be used to supply Eagle Claw Fort, Bailong Lake, and the Galen tribe that is beginning to grow.

On the side of the horse road checkpoint, in the open space in the south separated by a wall, the three major merchants built shops, and even had a small inn, moving the busy scenery of Laoyangkou earlier to the guns of the guards.

Xiao Ye's personal guards, after more than a month of replenishment, selected from the three places, supplemented by a hundred people, the black-clothed captain Sun Xiaoming is leading a group of sturdy soldiers, every day to practice firearms, digging trenches, long-distance raids are also once a decade drill.

Of course, the guards selected from the elite soldiers, compared with the dozen or so guards whose bodies have become strong in a short period of time, and whose muscles are faintly bulging all over their bodies, have fallen in momentum.

The guards dressed in black must have short rifles/spear hunting knives, military crossbows and thunder of their choice, especially the heavy iron slashes/sabers during the exercise, which are mixed up and whining; This kind of chopping/saber of more than 100 catties is specially made by the blacksmith shop, and ordinary guards can't wield it at all.

The imitation of leather armor, iron helmets, military shovels, and hard-ground low-waisted military boots made Xiao Ye's orders in the blacksmith shop and leather shop increase day by day, and Wang Dali now had to consider adding skilled craftsmen.

The only thing that made the guards happy was that these black-clothed guards, like the captain, had more than twice as much food every day, and they had to drink a big bowl of broth when they had three catties of flatbread in their stomachs, and they were not so able to consume food.

The number of captives brought back to the Eagle Claw Fort by the frenzied sweep of the grasslands at the southern foot of the Altai Mountains is increasing day by day, and after being sent into the black house by the black-clothed guard overseers, the number of powerful potions in Xiao Ye's hands is also increasing rapidly.

According to the plan, Xiao Ye took Wang Ziliang and gave it to the guards in the compilation, and even the craftsmen in the transport team, based on the merit book, and rewarded the primary powerful potion.

Except for the three craftsmen in the transport team, when they were crying with a headache, they explained that they were spies for the government, and the others in the Madao Stone Fort safely increased their strength by a hundred catties, which made Xiao Ye very proud.

The potions that the guards specially brought to Eagle Claw Fort, Bailong Lake, and the Galen tribe are also being distributed in an orderly manner, if nothing else, by the beginning of spring next year, there will be a thousand cavalry in Xiao Ye's hands, and this is only the cavalry team of Aman.

The other seven hundred-man team, one artillery team, and the number of guards were basically full with the addition of dispatching Bailonghu and rescuing Han slaves.

Looking at the account book handed over by Tian Xiuxiu, Xiao Ye couldn't help but have a headache.

Food, if the food problem cannot be completely solved, even if he has more guards, it will be difficult to increase his combat strength, and it will only increase consumption.

Therefore, Xiao Ye deliberately increased the reserve of military and civilian goods and prepared to go to Haixi Village.

Since the caravan in the south is short of food, then look to the north, and no amount of cattle and sheep handed over to Eagle Claw Fort can offset the shortage of food.

In the autumn of Madao Stone Castle, the cold wind was blowing in the backyard of the hundred households, Xiao Ye was playing with a bowl-sized gourd in his hand, chatting with Wang Ziliang and Xin Rulin about Haixi Village.

This dark green gourd was brought by the caravan at the checkpoint, and Wang Dali disdained to trade with goods, but it was not a problem to come to a few, and it was directly sent to Xiao Ye.

The hard-shelled gourd was a little heavy to hold, and the crack cracked the finger-thick shell, and the water juice in it was poured into a large porcelain bowl.

Throwing away the broken shell and wiping his hands with a towel, Xiao Ye picked up the big bowl and took a small sip, the sweet purified water was very refreshing, "Well, yes, it's a little sweet,"

The water hyacinth used to quench the thirst along the way in the caravan, Wang Ziliang and Xin Rulin were also full of praise after a little try, but they didn't expect that the vine grass full of stingers on the branch could actually produce this kind of fruit in the water, and those caravans who came to trade in Madao Stone Fort were not short of water.

The broken shell and a few kernels inside, the guards carefully put it away, Xiao Ye leaned on the wooden chair, looked at Wang Ziliang, the leader of the communication team, and couldn't help but sit up straight.

"The rattan grass on the surface of the Xilong River has spread upstream and downstream, there are a lot of gourds in the river, and the potential river surface floats up and down, which is of little use to our department, we have water umbrellas, and we don't need to buy water hyacinths,"

"However, there are some small traders who have collected water hyacinth on both sides of the Xilong River and sold it to passing caravans, but I don't know how long this water hyacinth can store water, if it can last more than a month, we can also use it,"

"Don't talk about this, let's talk about Zhang Zhong's movements over there in Gansu Town," Xiao Ye waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Since he wants to fight the idea of the official of this museum, he should be able to bear the consequences,"

By the light of the lamp, Wang Ziliang flipped through the booklet at hand, "Zhang Zhong was rewarded by the imperial court half a month ago because of the taxes of the imperial store, but he is still serving as the commander of the army and will not be transferred in the short term,"

"It's the Shaanxi Xingdu Division, where the new chief military officer came," Wang Ziliang provoked a smile on the corner of his mouth, "This chief military officer has a lot to do with us, the guerrilla general Lu Nianshan, although he changed his name, but the news from the Tian family is that he is the main envoy of Lu Yidao, who disappeared the year before last and attacked our Yonghetun,"

"Lu Nianshan? It's not our stone mountain that he's talking about, it's really hard to forget," Xin Rulin's brain reacted quite neatly, and he immediately realized that this Lu Yidao must be a bad person.

But how a big horse thief on the grassland turned into a guerrilla general with an official position, this is inexplicable to the three of them.

However, Wang Ziliang and Xin Rulin's gaze at Xiao Ye made Xiao Ye's face very hot, his own hundred households, after fighting with the Tartars many times, not only was he driven out of Shiguantun, but he mixed with a boundless tribe of hundreds of households on the grassland, which was really embarrassing.

"There are people in the court who are good officials, the ancients are right," for a long time, Xin Rulin said quietly, "This chief military officer who was born as a horse thief, if he didn't have a strong rear/platform, how could he quietly become a guerrilla general,"

"Perhaps," Xin Rulin pondered for a moment, and suddenly a layer of cold sweat broke out on his back, and he looked at Xiao Ye with a wry smile, "I can't say, we have caused a big disaster,"

Seeing Xiao Ye and Wang Ziliang's somewhat dazed appearances, Xin Rulin sighed secretly, "There are countless merchants on the grassland, I'm afraid that Lu Nianshan is also endorsing others, but we have disturbed other people's good things,"

"Hmph, a horse thief, what are you afraid of, even if you change the clothes and armor of the official army, you are still a horse thief," Wang Ziliang snorted coldly unconvinced, and he didn't remember the horse thief leader who was far away in Shaanxi Xingdu Division in his words at all.

Xin Rulin's guess is already eight / nine inseparable from ten, the royal lineage can no longer be involved in officialdom, after several generations, the personal relationship can be formed into a large network, Lu Yidao, who already has an official position, has also survived his qualifications, and he has mixed up with a border army guerrilla and how much money it costs.

"It's just that the subordinates don't understand why the hundred households want to sell the fire/guns to those merchants, but they can sell them directly, and maybe they will buy them in the hands of the Tartars," Wang Ziliang's words also represent the voices of some chiefs, military chiefs, and even Wang Dali, if it weren't for Xiao Ye's strict military regulations, I'm afraid that those centurions would also come to the door to ask and ask.

Like Wang Ziliang, Xin Rulin took a sip of tea, and his eyes drifted to Xiao Ye, who was calm and stable, but in his heart, he faintly had an answer.

"Kilometers to the distance, my father is for the imperial court, and my father-in-law has hopes for the imperial court, as a junior, he wants to add some weapons to the border army to resist the Tartars," Xiao Ye rubbed the corners of his eyebrows, and said insincerely, the nightmare that kept repeating every day, he was still tormenting his nerves, if it weren't for his strong physique, he might have fallen.

"His lewd skills can't get into the eyes of those big people, and it's good to be able to warn them, otherwise with the shoddy firearms in their hands, the soldiers don't dare to use anything to resist foreign invaders,"

"Privately, you have seen those caravans, they won't bring food if they can't get good things, we want so many wines, cloths and groceries, and our stomachs can't be filled,"

"Now the official's personal guards will all be replaced with rifles within a month, and the fire/guns of the other hundred-man teams will be gradually replaced, as long as we don't shoot rifles in large quantities, even if they have more fire/guns, what are they afraid of,"

"Hao Yongliang's artillery team, once the gunners are trained, plus the heavy machine guns, there is no problem in gaining a firm foothold on this grassland, and it is more than enough to protect itself,"

Although Xiao Ye's explanation was reluctant, Wang Ziliang and the others didn't ask much, and Xin Rulin had already thought about the most critical point.

Madao Stone Fort is the sphere of influence of the steppe Tartars, and the Ming Dynasty will not easily use the army because of its face, which is Xiao Ye's trick; You must know that the Tartar is the master of three points unreasonably, if he is relied on, maybe the Ming government will pay more than he will get by catching Xiao Ye.

This is the main reason why Xiao Ye stayed in Madao Stone Castle, and Zhang Zhong did not move for a long time, and sent people to assassinate Xiao Ye several times, and successfully reached the stone castle in only one case.

Although there has just been a great victory in Yingzhou, people with a discerning eye can see that it is just that the Tartars are unwilling to lose their strength in vain and avoid it for the time being.

This point, not only the generals of the border army, but also the bigwigs in the imperial court are estimated to see it more clearly and know it in their hearts.

When Xiao Ye spoke, he raised his face to look at the stars in the sky, and he looked at the direction, which was the side of Shuangta Lake, and the two scholars didn't think so far.

Late at night, Wang Ziliang and Xin Rulin said goodbye and left, Xiao Ye touched the bottle of medicine in his pocket, hesitated, and called Sun Xiaoming in a low voice.

The white powder of the medium-grade powerful potion, Xiao Ye only took out a bottle, and the potion that was exchanged for twenty live tartars was that the medicinal materials consumed were also doubled.

In the study, Xiao Ye sat naked in the wooden barrel, let the warm clean water surround his waist, and under the bright light, he pinched the potion and looked at it in front of him for a while, and then he picked it up with his thumb and flicked the cork away.

His own blood no longer had an effect on the medicine, Xiao Ye poured the powder in the bottle directly into his mouth, picked up the kettle on the side, and drank it in two sips; Like the primary potion, it still doesn't have any taste.

took out a towel, bit it in his mouth, closed his eyes and leaned on the barrel, Xiao Ye felt the heat flow gradually rising in his abdomen, constantly circulating around his body, after each rotation of the heat flow, the heat was also increasing rapidly, and his face and body began to turn red.

"Hmph, hum," a dull low hum sounded in the study for half an hour, and Sun Xiaoming, who stood up outside the door, pressed the short gun on his waist, and the muscles on his face twitched constantly; Only those who have been tormented three times by the potion know the taste of the fire, let alone for so long.

But he is also helpless now, the door of this study does not have the order of a hundred households, and he cannot enter no matter how loud it is; If someone else tried to break in, he was ordered to dissuade him from shooting.

At dawn, the door of the study opened, and Xiao Ye, dressed in black, stepped out of the threshold, standing on the steps and looking at the faint mist on the martial arts arena in the distance, with a grim expression.

Blinking his eyes, it seems that his ears and eyes have become much smarter than before, yesterday he could clearly see the distance of more than ten zhang away, but now, the clarity of the field of vision has more than doubled, even if it is the movement of insects and ants under his feet, in the past, he could only get the slightest movement, and he could hear it clearly in his ears.

The body of the third-level sergeant originally began to become strong in a short period of time, and the muscles were faintly bulging all over the body, but now Xiao Ye is still emaciated, and he has not become a strong man with knotted muscles like Sun Xiaoming, and his whole body is full of explosive muscles, and he is full of strength at a glance.

Having strengthened his body by the potion and feeling the power overflowing in his body, Xiao Ye couldn't help but smile and strode towards the martial arts arena.

Sun Xiaoming followed closely behind Baihu, only to find that Baihu's figure had grown a head taller, and the most dazzling thing was that there was a small silver knife emblem on each side of Baihu's black uniform collar.

This emblem was drawn by Baihu himself, and Wang Dali sent a skilled craftsman to make it in three days, and it is also a unique mark for a fourth-level sergeant, a sergeant at the level of adjutant.

Brush brush, 100 pounds of chopping/saber, Xiao Ye chopped, split, teased, and stabbed for a while, and felt that he still didn't take advantage of it, so he lifted the huge stone lock of 400 catties, and danced up and down for a while, and then vented the strength that overflowed his body.

Last night, although he leaned on the barrel and fell asleep, in just two hours, he didn't have that bloody nightmare again, which made Xiao Ye feel a lot more comfortable.

"Get ready, let's go to the Galen tribe in the afternoon," Touching the ground and dropping the stone lock, Xiao Ye said to Sun Xiaoming, then Haixi Village, it's time.