Early the next morning, Xiao Ye and the sergeants got up early, fetched water and washed, packed up the felt blankets, rolled them up, tied them with leather ropes and fixed them on the saddle, and prepared to return today; The nine carriages were already filled with leather goods, spirits, and some uncommon rice, and when they returned to Shiguantun, I was afraid that Huang Deshan and Tian Fangjun's eyes would also turn red.

Merchants on the grassland, although the road is long and risky, but once they are successful, the profits are still very rich, no wonder those big merchants have to keep the business route to the grassland, even if they have no face and no skin.

The remaining carriage had been closely guarded by the sergeants, and the projectiles, earth-shattering thunder, and tents on it were talismans for their return, and they were not allowed to be sloppy at all. The gold coins filled with a wooden box, Xiao Ye did not exchange them for generic silver ingots, and they were also hidden in the carriage.

The silver coins in Haixi's hands, and the rough-made gold coins, caused Xiao Ye to have great doubts, but he was very indifferent from beginning to end, and he looked unaware. If the gold and silver are taken back, even if they are not melted, they can be traded with merchants, regardless of where they come from.

It is best to arouse the interest of the Huang Tian family, so that they can cast less attention on themselves.

There was no breakfast in the village, but Xiao Ye and they were used to it, and after eating their own dry food, everyone stayed in the courtyard to rest.

In the compound of the public house, the sergeants and guards gathered in piles, laughing loudly, smoking and chatting; Although everyone is an officer and soldier under the hundred households, the guards and sergeants are still obviously gathered into different piles of people, and they are together with the same rank that they know each other.

The salary of the guards is higher than that of ordinary sergeants, and their vision is also higher, plus they are often ordered to deal with illegal sergeants, and the sergeants are not willing to lean over with a shy face, in case they are despised, they will have no face to look up.

It is only at the end of the year that the drill will be martial arts, and when the hundred households fill in the guards, the sergeants can show their skills and try their best to squeeze themselves into the ranks of the guards.

The only thing everyone has in common is that the weapon they carry is at hand, and they can get it at hand; Although there was no routine drill today, looking at Baihu's indifferent faces, everyone was ready.

The most dangerous time for the caravan on the steppe is not the hardships along the way, but the moment when it is about to leave the trading place, which is the moment when both sides are most relaxed. What Tian Fangjun explained to Xiao Ye, Xiao Ye remembered it clearly.

Sitting in the warm morning light, Xiao Ye and Xiao Liuzi lowered their heads and rubbed their firearms, Wang Hu held his fire/gun, leaned against the pillar, his eyes rolled, and they were all waiting for the village chief of Aura to come and see them off.

Liu Aimin, a herald not far from them, was silently reciting the whistle book with his right hand, and his right hand suddenly pressed the ear tips on his ears, his face was stunned, and then he silently memorized the news that came.

When Xiao Ye led the team into the Haixi village, the two heralds Zhao Baoren did not follow the team, but retreated far away to the grassland, monitoring the movement outside.

After listening carefully to the whistle from Zhao Baoren twice, Liu Aimin picked up the iron whistle and blew it a few times, got up and walked to Xiao Ye's side and squatted down, and said in a low voice, "Hundred households, Zhao Baoren and they spread the news, on the grassland in the east, they found that the horse team of the Tartar people numbered thousands, and it was almost within five miles,"

Xiao Ye and Wang Hu were stunned when they heard this, and their faces turned black in unison, especially Wang Hu, who was purple and red in the blink of an eye; Needless to say, it is likely that they were careless when they came, allowing the Tartar horses to follow.

"Baihu," Wang Hu stuffed the coarse cloth into his leather boots, and was about to get up with the firecracker, but was held down by Xiao Ye's hand, "What's the hurry, this is the territory of the Haixi people, and if they are in a hurry, they will be in a hurry first,"

As he spoke, Xiao Ye shook his head at Xiao Liuzi, "Go, inform the brothers, assemble the team next to the carriage, and stand by the spot,"

Soon, with the sharp sound of suona, more than 20 sergeants gathered around the carriage, and when the guards first opened the oilcloth and began to distribute more than double the projectiles and thunder, a bronze bell hanging on a wooden frame was rung in the small square outside the public house.

As soon as the bell rang rapidly, the leisurely people in the streets of the village became panicked in the blink of an eye, and scurried around under the noses of the two sergeants at the gate of the public house, and soon disappeared from the wide straight.

When the village chief of Aura hurried to the compound of the public house with a few armed soldiers, and walked into the gate, the scene he saw when he looked up made his face froze.

Beside the wagon, which was tied with leather ropes, two groups of heavily armed sergeants, with firearms on their shoulders, two cowhide boxes on the left and right on their belts, scimitars on one side of their bodies, and an arrow and crossbow on the other, and six long wooden handles were exposed in the two leather bags behind them.

The silent twenty-one sergeants, although they were wearing leather jackets of different old and new, had cowhide boots on their feet, and their faces were calm, like statues standing still, standing there quietly.

The wagon carrying the munitions was packed up neatly, and the pack horses were snorting anxiously and wagging their tails.

Wang Hu and Xiao Liuzi, who stood up in front of the team, had two more handcuffs in their waists, and they stood with their hands crossed without squinting, only their eyes slowly turning with the constantly moving figure of the hundred households.

Xiao Ye, who was pacing in place, finally saw the anxious face of the village chief of Ola, and his heart suddenly relaxed a little, what he was afraid of was the village chief who did not change his face, and sent them out of the village with a smile, then the matter was a big deal.

"Aura Village Chief, there is a commotion outside, I don't know what happened, do you need the help of this official?" Xiao Ye arched his hand at the village chief and asked with concern; Depending on the situation, eight or nine times out of ten, those Tartars were hooked by themselves, and he didn't want to stand by coldly.

He couldn't tell the reason for hiding it in his heart.

"Simon Baihu, the damned Tartars are here again, they came once a month ago, they wanted slaves to collect taxes, and they wanted to take Lena away, it's really damned," the resentful village chief of Aura looked at Xiao Ye's sergeant approvingly, quite shocked by the speed with which they were gathering.

However, he still didn't look at these 20 or so Han people, he just appreciated it.

"Oh, that's it," Xiao Ye, whose heart was in place, remembered the way Captain Claudie looked at him last night, and suddenly had an idea.

"Village Chief Ola, since we are friends, and there are still transactions to continue in the future, then we can't watch the excitement from the sidelines, and the things that guard the village, please allow me to do something," Xiao Ye, who was serious, solemnly suggested.

The soldiers guarding the fence of the village, the Caspian Haixi usually kept a hundred-man team, facing due north only sixty men, and the rest of the armed men were in the valley behind, where they had the fertile land on which they depended, and a few secret mines.

Although Xiao Ye could deduce from the rough gold coins and gray silver coins that there might be gold and silver mines here, his attention was not here now, and he was not interested in snatching the money bags of the Haixi people. Human affection is often more important than money, and human friendship cannot be bought by money.

According to the footsteps, it would take at least an hour for the leader of the Claudian detachment to lead the soldiers over, and the village chief of Ola, who knew the speed of the Tatar cavalry, was also worried that the hundred-man team would not be able to cope with the surprise attack of the Tatar cavalry, so he reluctantly agreed to Xiao Ye's suggestion.

However, the village chief of Aura proposed that once the reinforcements from the village arrived, Xiao Ye must lead the troops back to the compound of the public house, and the sergeants were not allowed to go out without his permission.

"Okay," Xiao Ye readily agreed to the request of the village chief of Ola, this is a village of the Haixi people, if the damage is really too great, he is not willing to do it.

Leading the arms cart, Wang Hu and Xiao Liuzi led the sergeants, under the guidance of the Haixi soldiers, out of the compound and headed north along the street.

In less than a cup of tea, they rushed to the open space by the fence wall to the north; Bypassing a dense row of trebuchets, under the guidance of a Haixi officer and soldier, he climbed onto the wooden shelf behind the wall; The rough shelves were two feet wide and five inches thick with double planks, enough to support a large number of sergeants standing.

Standing on the wooden board of the shelf, you can easily expose your upper body, but it is a little difficult to bend over; This kind of wooden wall that can just block the shoulders of the Haixi officers and soldiers, but the sergeants feel that they are a little shorter.

Xiao Ye and the village chief of Aura were standing in the open space behind the fence wall, and inadvertently, he actually saw the Haixi soldier in his hand, also holding a firearm that looked like a firearm with a rear-loading firearm, although he was slightly shocked in his heart, but the firewire lit by the soldier still made him sigh.

Chinese fire/guns, Arab motor methods, and European muskets are all fired with hand-held igniters, which are very inconvenient to use on the battlefield.

In 1450, European firearms researchers improved it into a semi-mechanical ignition device: a groove was made on the outside or upper part of the butt, and a serpentine rod was attached to the groove, one end of the rod was fixed, the other end formed a trigger, which could be rotated, and a clamp was attached to a slow-burning arquebus soaked in potassium nitrate.

The rear end of the barrel is equipped with a powder disc, and when fired, the trigger is pulled, the nose is pressed down, and the ignited fire rope enters the powder pan to ignite the gunpowder, firing the projectile or arrowhead. The butt has also been improved and handguards have been added to allow the fire/gun to shoot from the shoulder.

The rear-loading gun, which also has a butt, is now an important weapon for Xiao Ye, and once it is copied, the consequences will be catastrophic; Now Xiao Ye knew why the village chief of Aura didn't care much about his sergeant's firecracker, and the reason was that he looked similar.

Xiao Ye, who faintly regretted it, although he was reluctant to be branded with the idea of being fired, he also knew that it was inevitable, unless he didn't take out the firecracker. Fortunately, even the Huang family couldn't make the projectile, Xiao Ye at this moment, soberly realized that the most difficult thing to imitate was the inconspicuous projectile.

If it weren't for Tian Fangjun's mouth not to open the door, and the glass of wine would have become a chatter, Xiao Ye wouldn't have known at all that the rear-loading fire/gun had already flowed into the hands of several major merchants, and everyone had been developing it for a while. The lag of intelligence made him a person who realized it later.

Thinking wildly, Xiao Ye looked at the group of Haixi soldiers in front of him, under the shouting of the officer, wearing tall and feathered battle helmets, operating a tall trebuchet; This thing, he looked at it and swallowed saliva, it was too shocking.

"Boom," Xiao Ye could clearly hear through the high wooden fence wall, and the deafening sound of horses' hooves was rapidly approaching. Overhead, the sun was shining warmly, but no one would have noticed the soft sun today.

"Clear the fire, clear the warehouse, reload," Standing on the high wooden frame, with Wang Hu's fluent password, including the personal guard heralds, more than 20 sergeants lined up two steps apart, took off the cork on the muzzle, and began to pull the bolt to load.

Of course, in a hurry, someone forgot to remove the cork from the mouth, and it didn't get in the way, but when he came down, he had to go to the shop and buy two big pieces for himself, and then buy a small piece.

The cork, in the life of the Ming people, played a role in the life of the Ming people, but it was only used to plug the small mouth of the night pot that the family liked to be clean, and the poor people did not use it.

More than 30 Haixi officers and soldiers, standing beside Sergeant Shiguantun, also listened to their officers' orders, erected muzzle charges, loaded them with strips, filled them with powder cakes, and fixed the slow-burning arquebuses.

Although they were well-trained, they were still much slower than these Han Chinese sergeants from outside; Fire/gun shooting, especially team firepower, is all about the rate of fire, and whichever side shoots more pellets has a greater chance of winning.

The other 30 officers and men had already loaded the trebuchet with stone bullets that had been polished into circles, and bundles of thick cowhide bands stretched the long throwing arms to creak.

On the meadow outside the village, the Tartar cavalry rushed up along the gentle slopes of the lower terrain, their bodies lowered with strange screams, and each carrying a bag of wet soil on their horses; In order to attack this disobedient village, after suffering several losses outside the fence wall, they have already figured out a solution.

The experienced Tartar cavalry, first of all, had to fill in the wide trench, and as long as one or two narrow passages could be opened, it would be a piece of cake to throw ropes and pull down the wooden fence.

Of course, the short spearheads, trebuchets, and slow fire guns of the Haixi people were something that the Tartars had to guard against, so in order to achieve the effect of a surprise attack, thousands of Tartar cavalry, after preparing the earth bags, immediately launched an attack.

Under the black flag, a mile away, the trumpeter beside the Tartar officer whined the signal for the attack; With the sound of a long horn, the cavalry slowly urged their horses and rumbled to speed.

"Oh, oh," the three hundred horsemen formed a wave of Tartar cavalry, divided into three continuous waves in front and back, surging towards the trench in front of them, and the horses' hooves kicked up puffs of smoke and dust.

Six hundred paces, to the trebuchet's strike range, but this time the expected stones did not fly, so that the Tartar cavalry whipped the war horses under their crotches even more desperately, and accelerated again.

Conquer this village that refuses to surrender, their seizures can be chosen at will, except for a beautiful little girl, and the valley behind the village cannot be moved, and the rest can be touched by a scimitar.

The dry trench, though wide and deep enough, was not loaded with sharp stakes like the Akito, and the Tartar cavalry who were about to rush to the edge of the trench cried out and clenched the reins of their horses.

As long as you rush to the edge of the trench, turn the horse's head to the two sides, take advantage of the situation and throw out the composed dirt bags, and concentrate a large amount of earth and stones in the trench, and it will not take a few times to fill the two passages.

Just when the Tartar cavalry was close to five hundred paces and a few more breaths could rush in front of the target, on the shelf behind the wooden wall of the fence, Wang Hu's high-pitched voice sounded, "Shotgunner, shoot freely,"

The five shotguns in the personal guards, plus the three shots of Wang Hu's squad, heard Wang Hu's order, and shot out the projectiles almost at the same time, "Peng, Peng," a huge sound exploded in the moment when the smoke of gunpowder surged.

If the two shotguns outside were also here, they might have shot better this time.

With the sound of the gun, the Tartar horses, who were more than four hundred paces away and were trying to charge, rushed to the front of a centurion, and a small hole the thickness of a thumb opened in the thick cowhide breastplate, and a thick stream of blood splattered out from the back.

The centurion, who was still howling loudly on his horse, was so cold in his chest that he didn't have time to check his head, his weak body could not sit still on the bumpy back of the horse, and the "ordinary" fell under the horse, and was trampled into rotten meat by the men behind him.

On the opposite side, the gunfire roared and the smoke surged, and the companions continued to fall off their horses, and the excited faces of the Tartars showed a trace of fear, and at a distance of four hundred paces, they saw puffs of white smoke rising from the wooden wall on the opposite side, and there were people around them silently or screaming, falling off the horse, who dared to stand up.

But it is even more terrifying for the charging horse team to stop halfway, or to turn the horse's head; In order not to die under the hooves of their companions, the first wave of Tartar cavalry in front had to lie on the horseback, knocking the spurs more and more, stimulating the horses to speed up.

The long-range fire of the shotguns made the Haixi infantrymen standing beside the sergeant widen their eyes in astonishment, especially when they saw the strong Tatar cavalry, falling off their horses with the sound of guns, and the eyes of several officers turned to look at their village chief from time to time.

Although he couldn't see the situation outside, the old and refined village chief of Aura could see the strangeness of the period from the messy screams of the Tartars in his ears and the eyes of his officers.

Twisting his face to look at Xiao Ye, without waiting for him to speak, Wang Hu on the wooden frame next to the wooden wall had already issued an order again, "All the firefighters, raise your guns, and fire a salvo,"

Boom, the Tartar cavalry outside the wooden wall saw with their own eyes the scene of twenty-three firearms in unison, ten war horses lined up in a row, together with their companions on horseback, crackled into a heap, and the dead men and dead horses were driven by inertia, rolling and sliding on the grass for more than a dozen steps, blocking the horse team behind.

The Tartar cavalry, who couldn't stop behind, suddenly crashed into it, and the cries and neighing of horses became a mess.

"Clear, load, shoot," in Wang Hu's increasingly high-pitched shouts, a salvo of two breaths at a time, blocking the slowing horse team a hundred paces away; A large cloud of thick gunpowder smoke drowned out the sergeants who began to shoot blindly, and even the warm wind that blew slightly could not shake away the smoke that kept rising.

The Haixi officers and soldiers with arquebuses looked stupidly at the busy sergeants beside them, although they had weapons in their hands, sharp short spears at their feet, and short swords at their waists, but these seemed to be useless.

Trebuchet? It's better to rest, the trebuchet with a range of more than 600 paces or so, once it has no chance, after the shotgun fires, it is useless. The arquebus in his hand can't be fired yet, and there are no tartars in range.

The arquebus, which has an effective kill of only 60 paces, is very different from the rear-loading gun, not to mention the generation difference of continuous shooting.

Before the horn sounded behind him, the Tartar cavalry, who had been taken by surprise, saw that it was not pleasing him, and had quickly dispersed far away on both sides, in order to avoid the whizzing projectile; In this way, there were still scattered Tartars who were hit in the back and fell off their horses.

And as soon as the Tartars dispersed, most of the projectiles fired by the gunpowder smoked out could not find their target and crackled on the grass.

The firecracker, who had fired the projectile twenty times in a row, stopped the frantic shooting in Wang Hu's loud suona sound, and squatted behind the wooden wall with his gun, trying to calm his violent breathing while quickly clearing the magazine.

Discarded browned paper bullet casings at your feet and sprinkled haphazardly on the wooden boards.

The breeze swept by, the smoke on the fence wall quickly dissipated, and the Haixi officers and soldiers who were standing stupidly on the wooden frame saw the corpses all over the ground in front of them, the wounded who were screaming incessantly, the dead and the war horses were piled up together, and they also saw the Tartar cavalry scattered and fleeing.

Some of the Tartar cavalry, leaving behind their wounded horses and not even their weapons, scattered into the distance empty-handed.

From four hundred paces to one hundred paces, the sparse grass was littered with corpses, and at a distance of a hundred paces, a large pile of men and horses gathered; The projectiles fired in a volley made the Tartar cavalry disperse before they could run in front of the trench.

The Haixi soldiers who had a heart roughly counted the Tartars who died under the fire, not counting the war horses, there were as many as 100 people.

And the sergeants standing beside them and firing were only about two dozen people, which they had seen with their own eyes.

"Across, across, across," the sound of neat steps sounded behind Xiao Ye, and the leader of the Claudian detachment led four hundred armed soldiers and six hundred armed civilians, carrying arquebuses like forests on their shoulders and carrying wide shields, hurried over.

According to the instructions of the hundred households, Wang Hu saw that support was coming, so he ordered the sergeants to retreat from the wooden frame, assemble the team next to the trebuchet, and prepare to withdraw to the public housing compound.

Xiao Ye, who had been frowning and silent, turned sideways to look at the Haixi officers and soldiers passing by, turned around and smiled and bowed his hand to the village chief of Aura, "Village chief Aura, since your reinforcements have arrived, this official will lead the team back, once you need the help of this official, don't be polite,"

Xiao Ye and the others pulled the carriage away, and the fierce battle that they had expected did not happen, and the Tartar cavalry did not stupidly force the attack, which also made Xiao Ye more vigilant.

With Claudie's support, the village chief of Aura reluctantly climbed onto the wooden frame, and he wanted to see what was going on outside, so that his thirty elite officers and soldiers stood there stupidly like wooden chickens, and did not even have a chance to make a move.

Squad Leader Claudie glanced at the trebuchet beside him, and with a frown, he climbed onto the wooden frame; Under the reprimand of the officers, the officers and men of Haixi entered the battle positions of each team in an orderly manner.

The tragic scene outside the fence of the village, after a few glances, the chief of Aura did not want to stay any longer, although the rapid trumpet sound of the Tatars in his ears was still ringing constantly, but his own reinforcements arrived, guarding the safety of the village, there would be no problem.

With the support of the soldiers, the village chief of Aura was about to step down from the wooden frame, when he suddenly turned his head and looked at his son, "Claudie, the competition you proposed against the Ming army seems to be useless, their firearms skills are sharper than silk tea,"

When the captain of the Claudie detachment was the same as several hundred people, his eyes widened in disbelief, and he looked at the tragic scene in front of him stupidly, if he wanted to say that he was not shocked, no one would believe him.

Xiao Ye, who kept his promise, quickly returned to the public house with the sergeants, as for why this courtyard was called a public house, he didn't understand, but he could see that the place where the village held a meeting here was the same as the status of the official office.

As soon as he sat down and didn't take out the water bag, the village chief of Aura behind his buttocks chased after him, and the burning heat in his eyes made Xiao Ye very unhappy.

Sure enough, after the village chief of Aura thanked him gratefully, his eyes were on the fire guns on the sergeants, and he began to spin, and his mouth did not bend around again, "Ximen Baihu, can you sell us some fire/guns, the village senate can buy them at a high price,"

Xiao Ye, who wanted to refuse, thought about his sworn brother, but he had not been able to imitate the fire gun, let alone the projectile, and couldn't help but hesitate, he was worried that if these Haixi people had superb craftsmen, it would be himself who would suffer in the future.

But if the Haixi people can't make a firebolt, what about trading? Xiao Ye's eyes narrowed into a line, he was nervous, and he was much richer with a rear-loading gun.

Seeing that Ximen Baihu was hesitant, the village chief of Aura also knew that this firearm was a military material, and he was afraid that this young Baihu would not dare to disobey the imperial military order, so he hurriedly said loudly, "Two thousand gold coins, two thousand gold coins for your ten fires/guns,"

He didn't think that the fire/gun in exchange for 2,000 gold coins was a loss-making business, as long as the workshop in the village in the valley could make this kind of fire/gun by comparison, maybe he would be able to return to his hometown in his lifetime.

Before today's confrontation with the Mongols, for Xiao Ye, an officer, in the eyes of the village chief of Ola, he was just a subordinate of the Ming giant merchants, and this time he was obviously here to explore the way, to explore a trade route.

But after a brief encounter, his opinion changed dramatically, this young officer, he must take this opportunity to befriend, then the purchase of fire/guns can be negotiated, nothing more than the amount of gold.

The village chief of Aura, who was very disdainful of the Ming people and even the Ming Dynasty earlier, now knows that the advanced level of the Ming Dynasty has reached such a point; It was far from being something that their Roman Empire could match, and fortunately they had no ambitions to go south.

Silk cotton coats, perfumes, mirrors, and the silk tea and porcelain he was familiar with couldn't represent anything, but the fire/gun, pocket watch, untaught handcuffs in the hands of Sergeant Ximen Baihu, and the iron bumps in the leather bags that the sergeant carried behind him made him very jealous.

"Be sure to befriend this officer, and maybe he will be a useful ally in the future," the village chief of Ola, who had made up his mind, was quite decisive, and did not hesitate to shell out two thousand gold coins to buy this firearm that fired quickly and had a range that exceeded that of the arquebus.

Of course, the two thousand gold coins in his mouth only made Xiao Ye move his butt and sit firmly on the bluestone steps, and the sincerity of the village chief of Aura did not impress this Ming army officer.

There is no one in the world who can't buy people's hearts, only the price that is not in place, and the village chief of Ola, who adheres to the glorious concept of his ancestors, naturally understands the thoughts of this officer, so he increases the price again, "Three, four thousand, four thousand gold coins, but to buy ten fires/guns, we can make four hundred fires/guns at this price,"

Listening to the eager price increase of the village chief of Ola, Xiao Ye's head buzzed, and his mouth opened twice, but he was blocked by the old man's price increase.

Four thousand gold coins, alloy ingots also have more than four thousand taels, although there are a lot of impurities, but the exchange of Ming Dynasty gold ingots can also be exchanged for more than three thousand taels, Xiao Ye, whose eyelids are jumping, felt for the first time that it seems that the weapons business is much stronger than other businesses.