Just when Xiao Ye accepted Zhang Zhong's difficulties and his guards suffered heavy casualties, on the north bank of the Xilong River, he chased the dogs of the horse team in front of him with all his might, estimating the distance from the dark whistle, and urging the heralds from time to time to try to contact the dark whistle.

Fortunately, the sturdy herald was able to press the earmuffs on his ears with one hand on the high-speed warhorses, and blow out the whistle from time to time with his cheeks puffed out.

Just when the two of their horses began to foam at the mouth and could no longer gallop at high speed, the herald suddenly showed a smile on his face, slowly slowed down his horse, and sent out hurried messages one after another.

This kind of silent contact method, Goudan didn't believe it at all earlier, but now he is familiar with it, and he hopes that the people in front can relay the news back to Lao Yangkou as soon as possible.

Since Xiao Ye was going to the Gravel Fort to worship his parents, Wang Ziliang, who was already worried about the small belly and chicken intestines of the government, was naturally not very relieved, and sent more than a dozen heralds one after another, dressed in cloth clothes and lurking five miles away to the north of the hilly workshop area.

The news of the letter came in a hurry, which was received by his companion who was hiding in the bushes in the south, and although his face was full of disbelief, he quickly passed the news backwards.

As soon as the new sentry was put down, before the herald could get up, he was surprised to see that on the loess avenue not far away, smoke and dust were billowing out, and a large group of fast horses were galloping wildly on the road between the yellow trees, and suddenly retracted their necks.

Those who come are not good, anyone with eyes can see it.

Although the speed of the Jinyi Guards was extremely fast, the information transmitted from a distance of five miles was faster, and the old Yangkou Tunbao, Zuo Shi, who was sweating profusely, hurriedly ran down the fort wall, and rushed towards the Shijia shop with his legs open.

Sitting in a bamboo wheelchair at the door of the shop, Xin Lilin, who was drowsy in the sun, was holding a book in his hand, and a teapot and porcelain teacup were placed on the small table next to him.

There are no goods in the shop, just keep recovering all kinds of vine grass and fruit pits, the price is still the same, a few disabled sergeants can easily get it with a big shot, he just checks the accounts every day before closing, and he can't believe it.

Today, Baihu went to the gravel fort to go to the grave, and he was even more idle, so that the old army pushed himself outside, and he wanted to sleep when he read a book; Spring is sleepy and autumn is lacking, the ancients are right.

At this moment, the sound of footsteps came, Xin Lilin frowned, opened his eyes, and saw Zuo Shi running over in a panic.

"Xin Xiucai, it's not good," before he could run to Xin Lilin, Zuo Shi shouted in a low and hurried voice; Fortunately, he was still awake and didn't tear his throat out and shout.

"Calm down, Zuo Qiguan, if there is something, there is something, the sky can't fall," Xin Weilin smiled and picked up the teapot, poured tea into the cup, and handed it to Zuo Shi, "Come and see, drink saliva first,"

After two sips, Zuo Shi quickly drank the warm tea and leaned down, "There is news from the herald in the south, the team of men and horses is approaching the old sheep's mouth, it seems to be the fast horseman of Jinyiwei,"

"Huh?" Zuo Shi's words suddenly made Xin Weilin excited, his eyes immediately brightened, he changed his laziness just now, his mind was thinking rapidly, and the fingers holding the book quietly became white.

"How long will it take for them to arrive?" Xin Weilin pondered for a moment and asked in a condensed voice.

"It seems that there is less than a cup of tea left," Zuo Shi saw that Xin Weilin was not panicked, and he also sighed, and reached out to get the teapot. Suddenly, more than 300 steps ran down at a rapid pace, but he was tired enough.

"A cup of tea? So fast," Xin Lilin's face stiffened, and when he turned his face and saw that Zuo Shi was still pouring tea, he was directly angry, picked up the book and snapped it on Zuo Shi's iron helmet.

"Drink, and you're still in the mood to drink tea, disaster is coming," lowered his voice, Xin Weilin shouted in a low voice; Although I don't know why Jinyiwei came from, I am afraid that there is no good thing about being able to dispatch a large number of Jinyiwei.

"Do you know where the register of the hundred households is? The roster on the grassland, "The matter is urgent, and the others can't be taken care of, Xin Weilin can only ask the most important question first."

Madao Stone Fort, Eagle Claw Fort and Bailong Lake, as well as the roster of the Galen tribe, Xin Weilin heard Xiao Ye mention it, the roster is very important, and he didn't ask about it, but he secretly remembered it.

"Oh, the whole book of the salary, I know, my sister-in-law is stored in the kang cabinet in the inner room, and it is locked with a lock, and I have not been allowed to see it," Xin Lilin patted his head, although he had no strength, Zuo Shi was still stunned, and he didn't understand why he was suddenly anxious.

"Don't worry about the roster, as long as it is in the roster in the kang cabinet, you can send it to get it immediately, go out of the north gate, and ride to the Madao Stone Fort immediately," Xin Lilin pushed Zuo Shi hard, "Don't worry about anything else, do it immediately, the net worth and life of a hundred households are on that list,"

"Ah, yes, I'll go right away," Zuo Shi couldn't help but be shocked when he heard this, and ran towards the hundred households, but he stopped after running two steps, "Xin Xiucai, I don't have the key,"

"Smack," a teacup smashed over, "You stupid, the waist knife is a vegetarian," Xin Lilin, who was a little angry, couldn't help but scold, "The guards in the hundred households, take it away immediately," There are people coming and going on the street, and Xin Lilin can scold him, but he has lost Sven, which shows how anxious he is.

"Oh, I see," Zuoshi, holding on to his helmet and his face flushed, hurried north.

At the gate of the hundred households, the two remaining guards in the family were on guard outside, and when they saw Zuo Shi running over in a panic, they quipped, "Zuo Qiguan, which little lady did you provoke, and my mother-in-law chased after me with a broom?" ”

"Girl, crow's mouth, hurry up and prepare the horse, Baihu has ordered you two to go out with me on military affairs, urgent," Zuo Shi spat and broke in; In the hundred households, there are only a few people who can rush in directly like him, and the guards don't care.

Zuo Shi passed on the military order, but he had to be beaten with a military stick on weekdays, and he went to work in the mill for a few months depending on the situation, but now he can't take care of it, Xin Xiucai is so anxious for the first time, Zuo Shi's heart is already in chaos.

Moreover, Xiao Ye had explained that once the matter was urgent, Xin Xiucai's suggestion that the flag officer and the general flag must be obeyed, and he could mobilize two sergeants below the flag team.

Ignoring the strange eyes of the rough mother-in-law in the yard, he pressed the left stone of the waist knife with his hand, found the backyard, and raised his feet into Mei'er's inner room; On the wide ondol, a long jujube wood cabinet against the wall is horizontally next to the wall.

Reaching out to hold the thick copper lock, Zuo Shi pulled out his waist knife with a wry smile, and split the lock with a click, "Sister-in-law, it's all Xin Xiucai's bad moves, when you come back, you can ask him for guilt,"

There were piles of Xiao Ye and Mei'er's clothes in the cabinet, Zuo Shi pulled it open, and pulled out a coarse cloth bag in the innermost, which not only contained the roster of all the sergeants, craftsmen, and servants, but also a yellow wood locket, in which all Xiao Ye's net worth silver tickets were inside.

Picking up the baggage, Zuo Shi carefully closed the cabinet door, hung up the broken lock, and turned out of the room.

At the back door of the hundred households, the two guards had already pulled the war horse out of the stable, and the saddle halter was ready-made, and the cow belt was tied tightly and set off.

"Da-da," said three healthy horses, waving their hooves, rushed out of the fort gate in front of the mill, and a dozen or so craftsmen pushing wheelbarrows looked at their backs in the distance, and applauded.

In less than a moment when Zuo Shi left Laoyangkou Tunbao, more than 300 brocade-clothed guards had already rushed to the fire pier along the avenue; Zhang Zichang, who was guarding the fire pier, looked at these vigorous wrestlers, and his legs and stomachs kept turning.

Without the slightest pause, the horse team was directly divided into two teams, and the first team continued to rush forward to Shiguantun, where to receive the B-shaped mill, and all the water umbrellas there, which Zhang Zhong personally explained.

Another team of wrestlers swaggered into the old Yangkou Tun Fort, and after blocking the two fort gates, they soon occupied the hundred households, and all the maids and women in it were ordered to be locked in a stone house.

Needless to say, all of Xiao Ye's efforts in these two places were completely accepted by Zhang Zhong, who opened his mouth widely, and the more than 20 rear-loading fires/guns, military anger and other weapons and materials hidden in the military house were also returned to others.

In Shiguantun, Hu Shibiao, a hundred households, respectfully ushered in a team of brocade guards, and then it was announced that the mill in Shiguantun became the private property of Zhang Jianjun in a blink of an eye.

Fortunately, today is Qingming, and the craftsmen who have repaired the secret passage to the courtyard outside the stone castle were given a day off by the kind-hearted Wang, and most of them rested at the old Yangkou Tunbao house, but they were not seen to be abnormal.

Wang Ziliang got the letter sentinel in advance, knowing that something was wrong, so he took all the heralds and the two precious books and hurriedly ran down the mountain to the Madao Stone Fort, and he didn't even have time to take the silver ticket hidden under the kang bed.

A small team of scouts rode along the horse road on the west side of the canyon and directly tracked down the horse road to the stone fort of Ma Dao, and saw the black flag fluttering on the stone fort from a distance, so he turned around and left.

This is already the territory of the Tartars, and no matter how domineering they are, they are also useful in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and they are nothing when they go out of the territory.

Gravel Fort Thousand Households, leaning back on the big chair, squinting at Xiao Ye exiting the main hall, Zhang Zhong looked left and right playfully, "Okay, the matter is over, it is the matter of the imperial store and the official store, the major affairs of the imperial court, not hastily perfunctory,"

"Yes, it's all up to the Lord Prison Army, congratulations," Wang Chongli, Tian Guanglin, and Huang Changzu got up and congratulated Zhang Zhong in unison, but the eunuch was satisfied.

The imperial shop, as the name suggests, is a tax shop set up by the royal inner court in the local area, which sets up cards to collect taxes and pay for the expenses of the inner court, that is, the emperor's small treasury.

The official store, however, is the product of the crooked upper beam and the lower beam, set up by the power of the bureaucracy and landlords, to exploit the local monopoly market, and the powerful can participate in it, depending on how thick your back/stage or thighs are.

Zhang Zhong, who had long heard about the huge profits of the three major merchants, couldn't help but intervene when he saw that the Wang family had made a lot of profits, so he couldn't hold back, and just took advantage of Lei Zhengtang's incident to completely pay Xiao Ye's net worth, and by the way, he also controlled the Persian business road.

In other words, the big fish eat the small fish, and the big fish does not move because the small fish are not fat, and the fresh meat has its own teeth and steel to come up and swallow it; Which dynasty and which generation, it has always been like this.

"Hehe, the imperial store and the official store will open in a few days, you have to take care of your life, our family will not treat you badly, everyone will eat meat," Zhang Zhong, who was talking in the empty vernacular, laughed happily, and then a trace of regret appeared on his face.

"This Ximen Xiaoye is a good seedling, but he doesn't know the greed and disadvantages of eating alone, it will choke people to death, I think he has also learned a lesson, and he will know how to behave in the future," Zhang Zhong's sympathetic words made the three people beside him feel a slight chill in their hearts, I don't know if this is a warning, but I have to discuss it with the old man in the family when I go back.

Perhaps, it is because there is less filial piety this year?

Just when a few people were thinking wildly, outside the high wall of the Thousand Households, there was a faint cry, this voice made Zhang Zhong very comfortable, and the lesson that should be given is enough for you to understand what official authority is.

Outside the door of the Thousand Households, Xiao Ye walked down the steps in a mess, raised his eyes and looked around, as far as his eyes could see, his head suddenly buzzed, and he stood on the spot; Where is this Qianhu, it has clearly become a slaughterhouse, several bodies splashed with blood on the ground, and under the clothes covered by their faces, it is not the iron card that is exposed.

The border army has hundreds of households, thousands of households and family guards, and the guards carry different markings, and no one cares about the iron plates that Xiao Ye's guards carry, but they just feel that Xiao Ye is really cold, and they have two iron cards around their necks, and those guards can also stand it.

"Baihu, Baihu, you can come out," the female guards who were crying around the corpse immediately grinned loudly when they saw that Xiao Ye had finally come out; Only the five scarred guards, holding two companions with broken spines, looked at Baihu silently.

"The three of them, yes, who are they?" Whispering with trembling lips, Xiao Ye moved to the front step by step, slowly knelt in the blood, trembling big hands, stretched out a few times, and pinched the thin battle jacket.

The battle jacket was slowly pulled down, and Ning Zhongyang's miserable face leaked in front of Xiao Ye's eyes, and the eyes that were dead and unknown stared straight at the blue sky.

"Zhongyang, Zhongyang, what's wrong with you, just leave, don't say hello to the official, get up, hurry up for Lao Tzu," grabbing Ning Zhongyang's shoulders, Xiao Ye roared in a low voice, and kept shaking his personal guard captain.

"Lord Baihu, Ningzi is dead, dead," a sergeant leaning on the ground, his legs were broken, glared at his eyes and whispered, "Ningzi didn't shout, didn't shout,"

The guard's words made Xiao Ye stop his movements, and looked at Ning Zhongyang carefully, his empty eyes were out of focus, "Yes, you didn't shout, why don't you shout out," hugged his body tightly, Xiao Ye raised his face and let out a long howl, and Ai Ai's sad voice was like a lonely lone wolf in the wild.

Xiao Ye's gaffe howl made the guards and sergeants dare not say more, and even the crying was much quieter; After a long time, seeing Baihu wiping Ning Zhongyang's face with his sleeves, the female guards came to their senses and hurriedly went to support the two ladies on the other side of the carriage.

Of the three dead sergeants, Xiao Ye personally wiped the dust and blood stains off his face, and helped the other sergeants put on their battle jackets; The deceased was carried into the carriage and put it away, and the four sergeants, who were seriously wounded, barely squeezed into the carriage.

Turning around, Xiao Ye looked at Mei'er and Lina, who had already woken up, and stepped forward to gently pat the mud on their bodies for them, and carefully picked up the pieces of horse manure on the cloth skirt.

"Husband, no need," Seeing that Xiao Ye's expression was wrong, Mei'er hurriedly whispered, but her body was held down by Xiao Ye, "Mei'er, you two followed me and suffered a crime,"

"It's okay, it's okay, as long as the family is together, what's the crime," Mei'er, who had been tightening her face, a string of tears slipped down the corners of her eyes, and pulled Lena with a forced smile, "Follow you, we are willing,"

Lina, who was lying in Mei'er's arms, couldn't stop trembling, but she was also nodding her head vigorously.

"Let's go, this is not the place we should come," Xiao Ye, who had regained his senses, said lightly, stepped forward to untie the reins of the mule and horse, pulled the carriage, and walked towards the fort gate step by step.

Merr pulled Lena, the female guard, and the three slightly injured guards, fully dressed, and strode behind the carriage.

The group went out of the fort gate, Xiao Ye looked up in the direction of due north, pulled the mule and horse to the west, he knew that there must be a Jinyi guard behind him to monitor him, if he insisted on trying to return to Lao Yangkou, then he couldn't even cross the Xilong River.

Along the Loess Avenue, after walking for two miles, a carriage was suddenly parked in front of him, and Liu Shuihe, who was wearing a gray cloth short coat, had been waiting for a long time.

"Lord Baihu," Seeing that Xiao Ye was approaching, Liu Shuihe hurriedly trotted over and knelt on the ground, "I am incompetent under my post, and I see that my brothers are suffering and I can't help, please punish my lord,"

Xiao Ye did not blame Liu Shuihe for his unauthorized actions, at this time, the dark line buried in the Gravel Fort did not play much role, and there were still Huang Fugui and Han Baocai in the Gravel Fort, as long as they were willing to spend money, they were better than Liu Shuihe when they inquired about the news.

"It's okay, you're alone, it's wise not to act reluctantly, no wonder you, since you're out, let's go with the official," Xiao Ye took two steps forward and pulled up Liu Shuihe, "It's just right, with your carriage, we can take the car and hurry,"

In the horse team a mile away from Xiao Ye, Gou Chenliangyao looked at Xiao Ye and them, and sighed with a strange expression, "Hey, he Ximen Xiao Ye still has a relationship, and there is another carriage, it seems that his mother-in-law wants to do it, and we have to wait a lot,"

"Head, they got into the carriage, but they died faster, and you can hold the beautiful woman tomorrow morning," said a henchman, who came over and grinned.

"Twenty miles ahead of the Jizuigou there, there is a group of people, I think I can't get along with Ximen Xiao at night, when our brothers pass by, they have already found out, but I don't know which family it is," the words of the henchman made Gou Liangchen secretly happy, but the speed of following was indeed slow and slow, and he couldn't say that he would have to stay in the wild tonight.

The flag team he brought with him was just to monitor Xiao Ye, as long as Xiao Ye went out of Qingfeng Valley in an orderly manner, his task would be completed, of course, if there was a situation on the way, it would be okay to add a little strength, and he would take a fancy to the two Meijiao/Niang at a glance.

But Gou Chenliang didn't expect that the dozen or so strong men who were ambushed in Jizuigou had all died in the deep ditch at this moment, and the knives were examining the loot on the ground one by one.

Although these people are dressed as Ming people, but the knife is familiar with Ata, and they can still take a closer look, half of the dozen or so people are disguised as Tartars, and they hide in the ditch secretly, what else can they be if they are not horse thieves?

Each of the five people had two short/guns, although one was made by the captured Huang family, but suddenly rushed to the front of these horse thieves, and most of them were killed in a random shot; The remaining five lightly wounded horse thieves obediently laid down their weapons at gunpoint.

The sharp knife slashed through the throat and killed the four horse thieves, leaving the last horse thief, who had already urinated with the ferocity of the knife, and without threatening, he knelt on the ground and opened his mouth to explain the purpose of their trip.

Hearing that the horse thief wanted to intercept and kill Ximen Baihu, the knife was immediately blindfolded, and the horse thief screamed with a few clicks, but he couldn't ask for more information.

A shot blew the horse thief's head, and after the knife was inspected, he asked Atta to lead the people to collect the loot, and he was stunned and stunned.