When the workshop area in the back mountain of Shiguantun began to be busy again, Xiao Ye also learned that the coptis tree had been removed on the road leading to the gravel fort, and this period of continuous hawkers going up the mountain made him realize that something had changed.

Especially after sending the letter to the Thousand Households of the Gravel Castle, it has been more than ten days since the messenger returned, and he has not seen a reply until now.

In addition, he has not been able to contact Bailonghu, Xiao Ye's impatience has become stronger and stronger, and even Xiao Liuzi has asked him to train him several times.

Fortunately, Shang Shetian was kind-hearted, and it took more than ten days to finally take the prospecting team to walk through the horse road on the east side of the canyon, and traveled more than 70 miles north in a deep ditch in the northeast of the canyon, and saw a large area of grassland in the north from a distance. Less than ten miles into the grassland, there is a large swamp to the east, and the Gobi Desert to the north.

Wang Qing's escort team, while using geomonic bombs to widen and level the road, is also urgently planting Coptis trees, which are cut off and planted in the roadside soil to water a little water, which is very surprising.

With this arc-shaped detour into the grassland, Xiao Ye's caravan was able to avoid the Tartars' rangers and enter the Bailong Lake mountains obliquely from the Gobi Desert with the help of a compass pointing north.

After receiving the news sent by Shang Shetian, Xiao Ye called Wang Ziliang, settled the things in the stone fort, left Xiao Liuzi and Zuo Shi on the mountain, and personally took ten personal guards and fifteen pack horses and hurried down the mountain.

This time, Xiao Ye brought Huang Hanxiang three hundred crossbows, more than 5,000 short arrows, more than ten barracks tents, and the rest of them were also rice cooks, so he couldn't take out much of anything.

Riding a war horse, Xiao Ye, who was fully armed, led the sergeants down the stone mountain leisurely, whether it was their armament, or the tightly bandaged coarse cloth on the legs of the war horse and pack horse, it all showed that they were going to go on a long journey.

A field guy standing outside the shop and chatting with the old military household, squinted at the team descending the mountain, and talked about the damn weather; At the gate of the tun, the sweaty hawkers who were busy in a circle of children inadvertently also drifted their eyes to the horse team coming down the mountain.

The horse team slowly entered a gravel ravine from the trail three miles west of Shiguan, where there was not much precipitation, and there were large areas of weeds and shrubs on both sides of the stone ditch, and the vines and grasses were also sparsely pulled, revealing purple-black tendons, which were far less vigorous than the canyon.

"Lord Baihu," the guards who followed Xiao Ye on horseback, staring at the movements around him, said in a deep voice, "The hawkers on the mountain are not good things at first glance, why do you want them to come?" ”

"That's it, I don't think those two field guys are inauthentic, and their eyes are looking around all day long," a guard with a sharp ear in the back said loudly.

These slaves who were rescued from the grassland by Xiao Ye, who were unwilling to take guns, entered the mill, and most of them became sergeants, among which the best became the personal guards of a hundred households, strict training and sufficient food, and their bodies were much stronger; Coupled with a few fights with the Tartars, it looks a lot more fierce.

Almost subconsciously, Xiao Ye replaced the guards around him, as well as the sergeants from Baodes, with these men who returned from the grassland, and those sergeants who came out of the tunli, as long as there were those who were unwilling to fight, would be arranged to the escort team and prospecting team.

Secrecy is one thing, and the eyes of those old military households in the tunli who looked at him made him unbearable to let those companions who grew up with him die under the Tartar sword and arrow one after another.

You must know that his personal guard is different from other hundred households, he has to go to Bailong Lake often, and there are some confidential things to handle, and the danger is self-evident; Just like this time, he not only went to Bailong Lake, but also went to Gansu Town to do something.

High yield and high risk, businessmen understand it, these guards who are receiving double salaries naturally know that hundreds of households will not waste money and grain for no reason.

Looking at the back of the guards who opened the road in front, Xiao Ye smiled faintly, "It's not in the way, who those people are, the official doesn't care, as long as they don't make trouble in the tun, even if they have a big life, it's a good thing to guard the door for us,"

"Let's speed up, go to Bailong Lake to rest for two days, and we will go to Gansu Town soon, there are people waiting for us there," Xiao Ye's confident voice, although it was not big, but the guards sounded, grinning knowingly; The guy in Bouders is probably in a hurry.

They didn't know that Xiao Ye was talking about someone else, but what did it matter, as long as they followed the hundred households to fight, in a few years, the silver tickets on their bodies were enough to spend in this life, which was a serious salary of eight hundred.

After carefully walking out of more than ten miles, there was almost no vine grass visible on the left and right, Xiao Ye and his party gradually increased their speed, although the road was rugged, it was obviously considered to have widened a lot, but they couldn't walk the carriage; Before dark, the crowd rushed into the ravine next to the grassland.

With a personal guard with a telescope in front of them, the team smoothly entered the edge of the swamp, and from time to time someone dismounted to make a mark, and Xiao Ye also drew a route on a sheepskin map.

This year's rain was scarce, and although the swamp was wet and musty, the horse team did not encounter a terrible trap; The guards, who have the experience of grassland life, lead the team in front of the small trees and grass piles, and from time to time come down to explore the way with wooden sticks, which makes the speed of the horse team slower and slower.

In order to guard against the Tartars, the road in and out of the Gobi, Xiao Ye still wanted to find two more.

The next day, the horse team drove west into the Gobi Desert, and spent another two days marching more than 280 miles to the northwest.

Calculate the time, from the departure to here, the fast horse is full of three days, compared to coming out of the Shiguan Canyon, it is about a day faster, and sometimes the detour is not slower than going straight. The area of the Gobi Desert is too large, and even if the Tartars want to block the road, they can't do it, unless they pull out tens of thousands of horse teams to spread out and guard outside every day.

Out of the Gobi Desert, the group galloped straight towards the valley, and saw more than a dozen fast horses running in the distance, Xiao Ye waved his hand, leaving two sergeants to turn their horses' heads to meet them, and the others went straight to the west with pack horses without slowing down.

"Peng, Peng," the two sergeants held their fires/guns, rushed at the Tartar rangers who rushed towards them, calculated the speed of the Tartars' horses, aimed slightly, and after firing two grenades in succession, they gently flicked the horse's head, and the war horse drew an arc, and chased towards Baihu desperately.

"Boom, boom," the two grenades crossed more than two hundred steps, and the head smashed at the feet of the Tartars' war horses, and more than a dozen aggressive Tartar cavalry were smashed by the shrapnel that was broken and splashed, and the momentum of the pursuit was suddenly discharged; Who knows if these Han people still have it in their hands, the strange cannon gunpowder, not to mention the killing of people, injured more than a dozen war horses.

If it weren't for Xiao Ye's lack of fire/gun projectiles now, and he didn't want to stimulate the Tartars, this small group of Tartar rangers, he wouldn't let it go at all, no matter how small the mosquito is, it will have meat.

Under the contact of the heralds, Xiao Ye and his party, who arrived at the foot of the mountain, were quickly met by the sergeants on the mountain guard, and led them around the minefield on the side of the mountain road, and the horse team went up to the top of the mountain and entered through the gap in the wall.

On the shore of Bailong Lake, Huang Hanxiang, Yu Shan, and Du Ding took a cadre of flag officers, Xu Wangliang and Liu Yanshan followed, and happily surrounded Xiao Ye. You must know that all kinds of materials such as grain, silver, and other materials in Bailong Lake are provided by hundreds of households in Shiguantun, and once it is broken, it will be a matter of one or two months to say that it will be dispersed.

Xiao Ye asked the guards to hand over the pack horses to Xu Wangliang, and these quartermasters counted the warehouses that were put into the cave, and then called everyone for a short meeting by the lake.

"Lord Baihu, the lower officials know that Shiguantun will be fine," surrounded by hundreds of households, Huang Hanxiang said excitedly, "The Tartar slaves under the mountain found those cavalry, after Wang Meng sent someone to inform, the lower officials organized a team of fire/guns, robbed them of a grain team, and fought with them twice, seeing that the Tartar rangers increased, this arranged for the tribe to move west, but it was harassed in the periphery for a few days, and it did not hit the canyon,"

What he got in his mouth was light, but Xiao Ye could see from Huang Hanxiang's walking posture that this chief flag officer could be injured, and the battle to kill all the people in the grassland was so tragic.

Looking at the other flag officers, none of them were not injured, Yu Shan's head was still wrapped with a medicine belt, and his face was pale and pretended to be calm.

"Everyone, everyone has worked hard, let's report their injuries first," sighed in his heart, Xiao Ye patted Huang Hanxiang on the shoulder, "We have to remember the lesson this time, Tartars are not stunned, they also have brains,"

Xu Wangliang saw Baihu asking, and took out a piece of straw paper, and said in a low voice, "Baihu, this time I fought with the Tartars, Bailonghu injured seventy-six people and killed fifty people, ten of whom were trampled by the Tartar horse team and had no bones, and the sergeant finally identified them by his clothes,"

"Ten days ago, Yu Shan led a team to ambush the Tartars, but he didn't expect that there would be a sudden shower, and the fire/gun projectiles could not be fired when they were hit by water, so they relied on military crossbows and earth-shaking thunder to break out of the encirclement of the Tartars, and injured more than 40 people at one time," Xu Wangliang's deep voice made everyone's faces red, especially Yu Shan, whose head was so low that he had to plunge into the cracks in the ground.

What made them most uncomfortable was that more than thirty fires/guns fell into the hands of the Tartars.

Xu Wangliang, who was in charge of the logistics team, was one of the few literate people in Bailonghu, and he counted the casualties as an internal matter, but he was also frightened by such misery. In the field battle with the Tartars on the grassland, even if it is the regular troops of the Ming army, they still rely on the battle formation to meet the enemy, and if they are not careful, they will suffer a big loss, let alone these black households.

It took half an hour, Xiao Ye listened to everyone's report, and had a general understanding of the casualties in Bailong Lake, Lei Xiaoqing and their four small banners were still in the grassland in the west, and there was no need to recall them as soon as possible.

"Everyone can insist on guarding Bailong Lake and try their best to support Shiguantun, this official understands in his heart that this time when we go out to the grassland, we have a horse road, just in a big ditch in the east of Shiguan Canyon, more than 70 miles south, and we can directly reach Shiguan,"

"The three hundred-person teams of Bailonghu are fully formed, defending Bailonghu and deterring the Galen tribe, headed by Huang Hanxiang, assisted by Yu Shan and Du Ding, recommended by the flag officer Huang Hanxiang, and can be reported to the 100 households, and the other 100-person team is less than 60 people, and it will be returned to Shiguantun, and this time the official will take it away."

Although it is a team of three hundreds, the total number of fires/guns is less than one hundred and fifteen, mainly because of the lack of projectiles, and only one team of centenarians can be given priority, and the other two teams of centenarians are still dominated by cold weapons.

Xiao Ye didn't mention the fire/gun that was taken away by the Tartars, how big the battle damage was, he was born in the military very clearly, and he couldn't complain about his subordinates; Of course, having the projectile in his hand is his greatest self-confidence.

Xiao Ye took a deep look at the three officers, and when he saw that there was no difference in their faces, he knew that the three of them understood their thoughts, so he smiled slightly, "Yu Shan and Du Ding can have twenty guards each, and Huang Hanxiang can have thirty guards, you can choose loyal ones from the Tartars, and the armament is prioritized,"

The personal guards who are equipped with double salaries for their subordinates are enough to prove that Xiao Ye takes these three people very seriously.

Seeing that Huang Hanxiang opened his mouth and wanted to speak, Xiao Ye waved his hand, "There are not enough people to select from Brother Liu, and the young and strong people of the Galen tribe cannot be idle, the wounded should be treated as much as possible, and the food should be preferential,"

"In the future, the hundred-person team will take turns to take care of the Tartar tribe, in addition to training, the hundred-household office will no longer send a flag team to supervise, and the mining of Bailonghu minerals cannot be stopped, the sunspots will go with me this time, and the official will go to Gansu Town to do something,"

"If there is a chance, Han Xiang can select people from the Tartars to form another team of 100 people, our people must account for half, and the mixed establishment is easy to control,"

Xiao Ye, whose words became more and more aggressive, simply explained the military affairs neatly, and saw that everyone had no objections, so he turned his head to look at Xu Wangliang and Liu Yanshan, and eased his expression, "Two, you have worked hard, and your credit is invaluable,"

"Don't dare, a hundred households saving me is equivalent to fire and water, and my subordinates should serve me to death," the two leaders quickly knelt on one knee and kowtowed.

"Get up, you two will be equal to Yu Shan's salary next month, but the mineral material official is very lacking, it depends on the two of you," Xiao Ye smiled and picked up the two of them, "The sergeant drill has their own Huang Hanxiang and them, and they can't mine,"

"Your subordinates should do their own bidding," the two miscellaneous leaders replied loudly, and the small leaders on the side also echoed loudly.

After finishing his official business, Xiao Ye rode on his war horse and went straight to the north shore of Bailong Lake with his personal guards, and the beauties there were probably anxious.

Seeing the appearance of the hundred households roaring in a hurry, Huang Hanxiang and the others naturally did not catch up with them boringly, and several people got together and began to plan the candidates for the two hundred teams and the personal guards. Delegating power to subordinates, although it was Xiao Ye's helpless move, but in this way, the officers under him were more cautious.

However, the ore from Bailong Lake could not be transported back to Shiguantun, and there was no large amount of sulfur, so the only thing Xiao Ye could equip them with was a crossbow and a hunting knife, which were more than enough.

A wide cowhide tent, at the door stood a woman in an earthy yellow field uniform, with long black hair tied behind her head, and a pretty and fair face, looking into the distance, faintly with a little anxiety; If you look closely, it is not difficult to see that this wide uniform has been modified to fit.

After getting the news that Xiao Ye had arrived at Bailong Lake, Tian Xiuxiu had no intention of looking through the boring account book, ignoring Xiao Ju's sneering gaze, and simply wandered around the door of the big tent from time to time.

"Tread, trample," on the shore of the lake that exuded a light mist, a fast horse galloped over, and the person on horseback saw his appearance clearly at first glance, Tian Xiuxiu's face suddenly turned red, and her peach-like eyes flowed, and she couldn't even put her hands and feet.

"Teng," the war horse had not yet stopped, Xiao Ye had already jumped up from the horse, turned over and dismounted, threw off the reins, and strode towards the woman who had been thinking about it for a long time.

Behind him, the guards grinned and grabbed the war horses, a clever guy stepped forward and grabbed the reins of the war horses of the hundred households, and several people ran far away to the lake to rest; Here, there are the female guards of the third lady to watch over the surroundings, but they have no place to guard.

Running in front of Tian Xiuxiu, Xiao Ye stood alone, stared at her eyes, grinned, and stretched out his big hand, "Xiuxiu, I'm worried about you,"

The cold little hand was placed in the warm palm, and there was a little honest voice, which made Tian Xiuxiu's nose sour, and she suddenly felt that perhaps, the seemingly reckless but meticulous Baihu in front of her was her true destiny, and she couldn't escape.

stepped forward and let Xiao Ye hold his little hand, Tian Xiuxiu looked at Xiao Ye's face in a daze, "I'm back,"

"Well, I'm back," Xiao Ye nodded lightly, "I'm tired, I want to take a hot bath,"

In the depths of the big tent, in the open space next to the soft couch, next to the wooden barrel full of hot water, Xiao Ye's short gun, magazine, crossbow, arrow box, as well as the skin bag containing the earth-shattering thunder, the hunting knife with a sheath, neatly placed on the long case, the naked Xiao Ye sat in the big bucket, grinning and shouting refreshingly.

Tian Xiuxiu, whose sleeves were rolled up high, showed her white and tender arms, stood behind Xiao Ye and pressed his shoulders, listening to the hissing sound in his sweetheart's mouth, with a smile on his face.

After taking a hot shower beautifully, Xiao Ye put on the field uniform handed by Tian Xiuxiu, trouser belts, awkwardly pulled up the zipper, wrapped the footcloth and put on leather boots, and then half leaned on the soft couch, pulling Xiuxiu and whispering.

Daytime Xuan/Lewdness, Xiao Ye didn't even think about it, this is a taboo thing, he and Xiuxiu are content to be able to hold their delicate little hands and talk about their hearts.

Of course, in the end, Xiuxiu told him about the water in the mountains, the grain reserves, etc., as well as the arrangement of miscellaneous labor, so that Xiao Ye had a deeper understanding of Bailong Lake's family background, and he was lucky to snatch a smart female shopkeeper.

Xiao Ye, who had been hesitating, finally made up his mind after dinner, and recruited Xu Wangliang, and in Xiuxiu's curious eyes, he asked the guards to bring a double-layer leather bag, and he didn't know what it was.

"Brother Wangliang, this is the rattan grass brought by the official from Shiguantun, its thorns are poisonous, and it can defend the mountain pass, you can let people plant it on the side of the road in the valley, and pour some water on it in your spare time," Xiao Ye, who didn't know what disaster he had brought, cautiously pointed to the leather bag on the ground, "You go and do it yourself, and there will be a guard who will explain to you the toxicity of this rattan grass,"

Of course, Huang Lianshu Xiao Ye will not take it out, what he wants is to let the rattan grass block the surroundings of Bailong Lake, and the secret passage in the back mountain is the main passage in the future.

"I know it, and I'll plant it right away," Xu Wangliang saw the serious appearance of the hundred households, hurriedly bowed his hands and said solemnly, carefully carrying the leather bag, accompanied by the guards, and went to the valley under the mountain.

Under the full supply of Xiao Ye, there are more than 30 water umbrellas in Bailong Lake, which are lined up on the north and west shores of the lake, and the water is supplied according to the amount of people, which is enough to meet the consumption of nearly 400 people on the mountain, and even take a bath once every two days.

This kind of treatment is not available in Shiguantun.

The next day, Bailonghu began to reorganize the army, and the miscellaneous servants and exiles selected in the earlier competition were recruited into the hundred-man team; Xu Wangliang, who was expressionless, held a book of military laws, read it aloud one by one, and the cold words one after another made these new sergeants sweat when they heard it.

Naturally, the final food and salary treatment is also the most tempting, otherwise these people of all colors who were abandoned to the frontier would have already slipped away; You must know that there are not many sergeants guarding Bailong Lake, and they really want to escape at night, Huang Hanxiang and they really can't stop it, so they can't shoot them all.

In the open space by the lake, the crowd of people who were in a commotion was crowded into a pile, next to them were more than 70 selected sergeants, and then looking aside, a group of sergeants with guns and crossbows, standing straight, in front of them, standing one by one, flag officers, general flags.

Liu Yanshan, who was sweating finely, stood in front of his team, and the whispering sound behind his head made him look at the hundred households in front of him from time to time, and he couldn't wait to turn around and roar a few words, these damn guys are really not tired of work, and they can't add more hours to work.

Xiao Ye, who had a gloomy face, pressed the handle of the knife on his waist, and the guards standing with guns on both sides were all ruthless, glaring at those damn handymen from time to time.

Maybe it was the unhappy face of the hundred households, maybe it was the momentum of the sergeants, the first to quiet down in the miscellaneous team was Xu Wangliang's logistics team, and the crowd that came down quickly heard Xu Wangliang's voice clearly, this was the second time he had read out the military law.

According to the rules, the military law must be read three times on the spot, and the sergeant who offends again will be embarrassed, and no one can change the cane.

"......, those who flee from the battle, behead; Those who send troops without an order shall be beheaded; The whole uproar is thirty staffs; Those who slack off in camp, thirty ,...... of the staff" When Xu Wangliang's voice reached everyone's ears more and more clearly, it was already the middle of the day, and the scorching sun was scorching on the top of the mountain.

Similar to the Hundred Households, the supervision of military law was carried out by Huang Hanxiang's personal guards, but the military law team had not yet been formed.

Looking at the clearly distinguished crowd in front of him, Xiao Ye's heart gradually became turbulent, those boys who came out of the gravel castle with him, now only Wang Hu Wang Meng, Heizi came out, and the others either died or disappeared in Uncle Wang's flag team after a few battles with Tartar, after all, there is safety and security, but that's all.

Even in his personal guards, in addition to the heralds who must be from military families, there are fewer and fewer people in Shiguan Tun, for their request, Xiao Ye did not block them, but asked Wang Dali to accept them very humanely.

The big waves washed the sand, and the gold left behind, but how much it was damaged before it shone brightly, Xiao Ye didn't want to see the sad eyes of the soldiers, let alone dare to break through with reluctant subordinates.

Yes, with people like Jiang Jie pressing high, if he doesn't want to break into the way of life, there is only a dead end, and under the torment of nightmares every night, Xiao Ye can see it more clearly than anyone else.

In the afternoon, Dudin led a team of fifty people from the back of the cave at the top of the mountain to the bottom of the stone cliff, and they were going to change guards with Kuroko.

Xiao Ye went to the edge of the cliff and looked down, the large piles of minerals and bags of saltpeter piled up below were almost turned into small mountains, but they could not be transported to Shiguantun.

On the third day, Wang Hu and his four small flags returned to Bailong Lake, and Xiao Ye picked out five gunners from the Qin Stone Squad, all of whom were shotgunners with 150 bullets and no missing shots.

In Wang Meng's team, four scouts were also selected; The rest of the people were escorted by Xiao Ye with pack horses, loaded with saltpeter and ore, and returned to Shiguantun along the way they came.

In the team that returned to Shiguantun, a hundred new sergeants were added, temporarily led by Wang Meng, and returned to Shiguantun, where they would be broken up to replenish the flag teams. As long as they returned to Shiguantun, the real ten armed flag teams of the Hundred Households would be full for the first time.

Qin Shi's hunter team, Xiao Ye will be included in the pro-guard team, and there will be a single group and one flag. As long as Xiao Ye is willing, his personal guard can even have as many as fifty people, as long as he can afford to pay for food.

Without strength, it is difficult to protect himself, Xiao Ye can be regarded as seeing the situation in Shiguantun clearly, and he doesn't care about the establishment of the hundred households, if the thousand households of the Broken Stone Fort can support him, why would he be beaten by the Tartars and almost abandon the nest and flee.

The invisible mastermind behind the scenes made it difficult for him to sleep.

Xiao Ye originally only had fifty people, but after the flag officials discussed, they still decided to take out a hundred people, which was also requested by Huang Hanxiang, it is very convenient for Bailonghu to replenish the sergeants, and there are still hundreds of Tartar slaves in the Galen tribe, so they just begged him vigorously.

Qin Shishi was in charge of the post-embattlement, and he carried a roster in his arms, as well as a letter from Baihu to Wang Dali, in which he asked Wang Shizhi to immediately use craftsmen to make two iron plaques for each registered sergeant, on which he was engraved with a chisel to indicate his identity and name.

This kind of iron badge hung around the neck with a leather rope is the same as the waist tag, but it is more durable, even if the sergeant is turned into meat sauce by the horse's hooves, he can tell who it is.

As for why each sergeant has two iron plates, as long as the experienced sergeant knows that the partner who died by his side may not be able to take it away immediately, the iron plate left on the corpse is the best identification, and the other iron plate that takes him away will be handed over to the hundred households and sold to the roster.

It doesn't matter if there is a waist card, but if there is an iron card for military households and hunters, the hundred households will be paid food.

That night, the pack team set off from the back mountain, Xiao Ye just sent a personal guard to lead the way, and he took eighteen sergeants to go down the mountain into the Gobi Desert overnight, and went straight to Qingfeng Valley.