With the addition of new forces, the supply of stone needed for yellow plaster production is more, but the amount of plaster used in Shiguantun itself has also increased a lot this month.

Outside the fort wall on the west side of the stone fort, a large open space between the fort and the stone fort was leveled, and a large courtyard was built, with ten houses in a row and four rows in a circle, leaving a courtyard gate, which was the home of the exiles and their families.

The stucco blocks were built on the walls, rafters were put on the stone walls, and then covered with thick thatch, and the stone houses were built so quickly that the three hundred exiles finally got rid of the damp cowhide tents.

And the nineteen literate and skilled exiles were allowed to live in the walls by a hundred households; No matter how capable a person is, as long as he can get his hands on it, Xiao Ye still values it very much.

All this will be twenty-five days later.

Shiguantun uses yellow plaster, Huang Deshan and even Huang Changzu have no opinion, but they must not be brought out to the gravel fort, otherwise it will be a breach of contract.

However, the feeling of being targeted made Xiao Ye quite unhappy, but this unhappiness was buried in his heart.

In the past twenty-five days, Xiao Ye sent Lei Xiaoqing's team twice to Bailong Lake, but he didn't expect that the Tartar Tanma was still wandering nearby.

Lei Xiaoqing, who had no choice, took the supply of green salt again and made a detour into the deep mountains.

The second time they went to the direction of Bailong Lake, Lei Xiaoqing's team had the experience of the previous time, and under the repeated exploration of several scouts, they found a relatively convenient mountain trail, which could be detoured back to the mountain stream west of Bailong Lake; Compared to going up to Bailong Lake from the valley in the east, although the journey took two more days, it was safe.

Contacting Huang Hanxiang through a whistle, Lei Xiaoqing climbed up the huge cave along the rope, and also brought up the scarce green salt on the mountain.

Huang Hanxiang and the two chief flag officers, after seeing that the Tartars had no choice but to retreat down the mountain, set up a guard post on the top of the mountain to the valley, the stone wall in the direction of the mountain was thickened and heightened, and other miscellaneous servants continued to excavate saltpeter, which had accumulated nearly 10,000 catties.

However, without the carriages, the handymen had to carry baskets to pile up large pieces of saltpeter and a small amount of sulfur on the shore of the lake, and did not know when they would be able to carry them down the mountain.

Now the most dangerous thing on the mountain is to go to the stream halfway up the mountain to fetch water, and every time you have to go down with a sergeant, and wait for the miscellaneous servants to carry the water uphill before finally withdrawing.

The big umbrella that can condense water droplets, Huang Hanxiang specially asked Xu Wangliang to arrange a special person to fill more than a dozen water bags at any time to prevent the extreme water shortage from happening again when it is blocked in the cave.

For the water purification collector named after 100 households, that is, the water umbrella, Huang Hanxiang and others are simply regarded as treasures, and there are special sergeants who take turns to take care of them, and others are not allowed to approach at all, and it is even more taboo to touch them.

The arrival of Lei Xiaoqing also brought a large number of rope tools, and in less than two days, a ten-zhang long rope ladder was completed with the efforts of an old handyman; With the rope ladder, anyone who is not too weak can climb down the cave to the bottom of the mountain stream.

After following Huang Hanxiang around the shore of Bailong Lake for a day, Lei Xiaoqing and the two came to the mountain bag where the wolf tile once stood, and looked at the cave on the opposite side of the ridge, "Brother Huang, you still can't go out of the valley?" ”

"No, the Tartar rangers are very well guarded, in case there is a large group of cavalry ambushing nearby, it will be miserable," With the telescope in hand, the scouts sent by Huang Hanxiang were very wary of the Tartars under the mountain.

The telescope can only see up to five miles, but if the Tartar is ambushed five miles away, the kung fu of the tea can rush to the front, and Huang Hanxiang cannot afford to lose the consequences of the adventure.

"In this way, the hundred households are in a hurry," Lei Xiaoqing took out the copper-tipped dry tobacco stick, scooped the tobacco in the leather bag, and squatted on the mountain bag to smoke the dry tobacco.

"Yo, Leizi, you all have tobacco now?" Huang Hanxiang looked at the black skin in surprise, and swallowed his saliva with envy, he hit Shiguantun, except for buying some spicy Mohe cigarettes in the Huang family's shop, he had long forgotten the taste of tobacco.

"There is a package of supplies for you, which was bought by the hundred households from the hands of the deacon of the Wang family," Lei Xiaoqing said with a smile as he handed the dry tobacco into Huang Hanxiang's outstretched hand; With the arrival of the Wang caravan, although no shops were built in Shiguantun, the types of goods were much richer.

As long as it is a commodity in the gravel fort, even in the town of Gansu, as long as it is mentioned, the caravan can be transported in a few days.

For the sake of Wang Chongli's face, Xiao Ye gave Deacon Wang a warehouse, which was in the stone house next to the Land Temple, and every time the goods of the Wang family's caravan were sent to the warehouse to make a book, the old military household guarded it, and the key was in charge of the Wang priest, and the list was handed over to the hundred households.

Shiguantun 100 households take the materials of the Wang family, keep the account at any time and take it away, the next time Deacon Wang comes to the two sides to count the price, saving time and effort.

However, Wang Dali's access to the materials in the warehouse must be approved by the wife of the hundred households, Mei'er, and the signature can only be released from the warehouse; Therefore, military households still like to go to the shops of Tianhuang and Huang, and sometimes they can buy bargains.

"So that's the case, it seems that our Shiguantun has also become a treasure of feng shui," Huang Hanxiang said with emotion after listening to Lei Xiaoqing's narration; In exchange, it was Lei Xiaoqing's white eyes.

Ignoring Huang Hanxiang's envy, Lei Xiaoqing squatted on the stone and pointed to the deep mountain stream under his feet, "Brother Huang, you see, if we just throw the saltpeter and black stone, as well as the stones in the cave, from here, wouldn't it be more convenient, bagging it below, although the horse team has to make a detour away, fortunately, the Tartar can't find it,"

His unintentional words made Huang Hanxiang's eyes light up.

"Well, it makes sense, I'll talk to Yu Shan and Du Ding later, try it first if it doesn't work out," Huang Hanxiang, who was spitting clouds and mist, had the same thoughts in his mind, so he responded.

Xu Wangliang took some miscellaneous servants, and after the sergeants in the mountains hid away, he dumped a cart of stones, and the low rumbling sound below was already very light.

In the afternoon of the next day, more than 20 pack horses, carrying the raw materials of Bailong Lake, left the mountain stream along the rugged mountain road.

In the spirit of three days of civil use and one day of ordnance, since there was a supply of raw materials for the three caravans, and the raw materials for Bailonghu had also arrived, they immediately began to hoard vanity mirrors, white flute paper, and pocket watches.

But perfume requires a lot of flowers, and the flowers that Xiao Liuzi bought from Hanjuan and them every day finally caught Tian Fangjun's attention.

Fortunately, Lei Xiaoqing took a team of sergeants with bulging bags on horseback, and when he went out to the grassland again, he finally let Xiao Ye fool Tian Fangjun over. Escorting supplies to the Persian caravan in exchange for payment, this kind of drudgery of licking blood with knives, the merchants did not bother to inquire.

One day in late April, a sergeant with a small flag in the Gravel Fort sent a cart with more than 50 women and children to Shiguantun; There were not only twenty stones of food on the car, but also a bloodstained and dirty prisoner, who looked like a scholar.

Wang Chongli handed over all the exiles he could get this year to Shiguantun. In the business of both public and private interests, with a movement of the brush in his hand, he naturally couldn't forget to take benefits from Xiao Ye.

At the foot of Deshi Mountain, the small flag officer handed over the official / document to Ximen Baihu, and after getting the receipt, he took people back to the gravel fort; Naturally, he had five taels of silver in his pocket.

The prisoner who had been shackled off the car was in a coma with a fever, Xiao Ye ordered Xiao Liuzi to go to Li Langzhong to see if he could be rescued, and opened the official document casually; In the official / document, there are the names and origins of the prisoners, the reasons for the crimes, and the punishment of the government.

Of course, the matter of their settlement in the military household is a certainty.

"Let's go, take them up the mountain," Xiao Ye sighed, closed the official paper, and asked the guards to collect these female prisoners, and followed the ox cart to the mountain; There are too few women in Shiguan Tun, but this time the Lord of Qianhu has done a good thing.

When Wang Dali built a house for the exiles, four courtyards were enough, and one more courtyard was built, but now it is ready to be used.

In Li Langzhong's clinic, when Li Muchen asked the pharmacist to take off the scholar's coat, Rao is well-informed, and he couldn't help frowning.

With scaly scals and stick wounds all over his body, his broken legs, and the black tattoos on his cheeks, Li Langzhong couldn't imagine that the scholar who had suffered such a great crime would still have a faint breath from the bumpy stone fort to Shiguantun.

If it weren't for this person's tenacity, I'm afraid he would have died on the road.

"That's it, save people's lives, win the seventh-level floating slaughter, prepare hot water and soju, medicine with splints," since it was sent by a hundred households, Li Langzhong will do his best to rescue, as for this young scholar, whether he can live until tomorrow depends on his creation.

The method of cleaning wounds with spirits was already used in small quantities in the Ming Dynasty army, but most of the Langzhong scoffed at it; Li Langzhong, who was easily rewarded with two jars of good soju by hundreds of households, was not yet enjoyable, but he used it for the patient first.

Two days later, Xiao Ye summoned all the flag officers, as well as the older sergeants, so that among the fifty exiled women, each of them could choose a wife or concubine.

Both parties are willing and cannot be forced, this is Xiao Ye's bottom line.

The rest are those guards and sergeants with merits, Xiao Liuzi gave up the opportunity to choose under Han Juan's angry gaze, and Zuo Shi was directly kicked by Xiao Ye to patrol the mountain.

Xiao Ye can't help it, these women and children who have committed crimes, far away from their hometowns, have not joined the military household and have been separated from their original hometowns, they are not wicked themselves, and they are exiled because of taxes, but the world is like this, it is difficult not to find someone to live in Shiguantun.

To the west of the exile compound, the construction of two larger courtyards began again, if it were not for the yellow plaster, with the addition of a large number of laborers, there would be exiles in the future, it would be a problem of housing, Xiao Ye's head would be as big as a fight.

The end of April and the beginning of May were a beautiful day for the military households in Shiguantun.

Meritorious soldiers can choose a wife or even a concubine, as long as you are willing to spend money to support you, which has aroused great interest among military households in Shiguantun. It is every man's duty to spread the branches.

The exiles who were still serving their sentences also began to take their work seriously; They, who will be military households here in a year, naturally have their own ideas.

Even the hunters who sold coolies in the quarries, some people couldn't help but find Shangwu in private, and also inquired about the treatment of military households.

Although those women are not very good-looking, they have strong bones, and as long as they can raise children, no one will dislike them.

For every sergeant and flag officer who chose a woman to start a family, Xiao Ye was all a coarse cloth, a pot of ale, and a settling-in allowance of two dollars, which can be regarded as settling these women.

Although he didn't agree with his father-in-law's suggestion, Xiao Ye was speechless when he looked at these excited sergeants and the shining eyes of the soldiers.

Li Langzhong's two medicinal foams worked very well, and the scholar's splinted legs were slowly recovering as the injuries on his body improved.

However, if he can take care of his legs after a hundred days, Li Langzhong said that it must be three months later, and whether he can walk freely by then, then it is not a matter of two words.

Looking at this scholar who was still silent in the clinic although he was awake, Xiao Ye whispered to Li Muchen, "Lao Li, there are still some minced meat in the Baihu Institute, you ask the pharmacist to find Xiao Liuzi and bring some back to cook porridge for him to eat,"

"He was originally a showman, except for my father-in-law, he knows a lot more about Shiguan Tunli's knowledge," Xiao Ye explained in a low voice, making Li Langzhong chuckle and nod, it was the scholar lying on the fire kang, and his slightly closed eyes also trembled slightly.

Soon, Xiao Ye put this scholar in the back of his mind, and he couldn't stay any longer with those exiles who worked in the quarry; Qianhu Wang Chongli is a shrewd boss, give him an excuse, and he can immediately make Xiao Ye unable to sleep.

On a crisp night, thirty exiles were singled out, and the military household rolls were taken to the chariot with two teams of small flags in place.

The chariots and horses of the brigade, the exiles who had been raised by the body, went down the mountain in a hurry, and this scene not only surprised the military households, but also Tian Fangjun and Huang Deshan were happy to watch the excitement.

When they arrived at Bailong Lake, these new military households would be incorporated into Huang Hanxiang's banner team and begin rigorous military training.

Xiao Ye, who deliberately revealed his whereabouts to the Huang family, now wished that there would be a commotion between the three families, if they joined forces, even if the price of green salt was raised, the Shiguantun military households would have to scream, not to mention the grain.

In view of the inexplicable relationship between Xiao Ye and Tian Xiuxiu, as well as the explanation of the patriarch and Tian Guanglin, Tian Fangjun is very kind to Ximen Baihu and moves around frequently, and under Xiao Ye's deliberate friendship, there are more opportunities for chatting; While the two of them were chatting, he talked about some of the conditions on the grassland.

A pot of ale, a plate of boiled beef, and a dipping sauce, Tian Fangjun can still say very well to people who can see it.

"The steppe is not so united, everything is based on strength, if one tribe has fewer men, the other tribes don't mind swallowing this tribe and taking all the women and livestock,"

"When you meet a tribe that has no kinship, it's okay for a child, a girl is okay to say, and a boy is taller than a wheel, I'm afraid it's hard to say,"

"However, all the Tartar tribes are under the jurisdiction of the Great Khan, and the steppe Gobi opposite us is under the control of his third son, Balsborot, that is, Sayin Arakjinong,"

The verbose Tian Fangjun thought of where to speak, and Xiao Ye, whose personality was gradually formed, also remembered the word strength, and the one who didn't deal with Shiguantun was the Jin King Balsborot.

However, Tian Fangjun finally said that in the northern foot of the Altai Mountains, thousands of miles away, there was a large farming tribe, and the people in it had high foreheads and big noses, fair skin, and men liked to have long hair without buns, which was obviously not like the Tartars; The speaker was unintentional, the listener was intentional, and Xiao Ye immediately took it to heart.

"It was the farthest trade route I went, on a high ground near the foot of the mountain, and the Tartars I met on the way back robbed almost all my leather gold, and thirty carts of silk, green salt, and tea were all bought and sold, a full twenty thousand taels," Tian Fangjun, whose face was flushed, was also angry when he mentioned the Tartars.

He was sent here by his family because of the blessings of the Mongolian Tartars.

Soon, under Xiao Ye's inquiry, Tian Fangjun took the straw paper and drew a rough map, and talked about his own experience in a free way, and then with the support of his buddy, he swayed back to the inner room to rest.

Xiao Ye, who got this big news, went to his father-in-law's house with straw paper, and after repeating Tian Fangjun's words, Yang Tianshou stroked his beard and laughed, "I also had friends in the Ministry of Rites back then, and when it comes to those outsiders, the old man still knows a little,"

"High forehead and big nose, fair skin, men like to have long hair, the second thumb of the foot is as long as the thumb, the body is strong and short, he likes to wear leather and armor, and he does not like to wear clothes with gold and precious stones, this is the appearance of the envoy of the Hercynian people,"

"And the Persians are tall and stout. The color of his eyes is blue, and he likes to wear robes, "Yang Tianshou, who was happy to show off his knowledge in front of his son-in-law, suddenly stopped, "Hey, I heard that your kid has dealings with Persians, you should know this,"

"Yes, yes, the son-in-law knows," Xiao Ye, who smiled dryly, nodded vaguely, regardless of the Haixi Persians, he now has an idea.

As long as you can get these people to Bailong Lake and act as a façade, you will have an excuse for the future, and you don't have to tell lies all day long; There will always be a day when lies will be exposed.

So, Xiao Ye took all the personal guards, two small teams of sergeants, and ten pack horse carts with the exiles who had lost their military status, and took advantage of the darkness to enter the grassland. The families of these new military families were naturally left behind in Shiguantun.

In the canyon outside Shiguan, the sound of horses' hooves rumbled, and Qin Shishi, who was guarding it, held a shotgun in his arms, and sat on the mountain rock with a few hunters, quietly listening to the sound of the gradual distance below.

Baihu sent people to send dry food on time, plus there was that water umbrella, Qin Shi didn't care about the desolate mountains and wilderness around him, just right, it could also let the hunters practice their marksmanship more, and the prey they hit could also open meat, and after a few days of hardship, it was time for Baihu to come back with other small flags.

The new soldiers who set off with the convoy did not panic much.

Although they were physically exhausted in Shiguantun, the exiles who could eat enough had more than ten days of communication with the military families in Shiguantun had slowly accepted their situation.

Although I heard that there were Tartars attacking here, I didn't have the misery of being bullied as I imagined, and maybe I could live well. I didn't see those sergeants who practiced all day long, all of them were strong and strong, and they couldn't finish their strength, and they still had steamed meat slices every day, but they were very greedy.

Along the way, the exiles obediently followed the actions of the sergeants, day and night, and finally walked safely into the depths of the mountain, through the trembling rope ladder under the mountain, to reach Bailong Lake. Ten carts were hidden in a wooded area into the mountains, guarded by a team of sergeants.

On the shore of Bailong Lake, all the miscellaneous servants and exiles were gathered, and Xiao Ye announced in public that Xu Wangliang was awarded the acting chief flag officer, and two miscellaneous 100-person teams were officially formed, and the team officers and flag officers were recommended by Xu Wangliang.

The military training of the 100-member miscellaneous team was also changed to twice a decade, supervised by Huang Hanxiang.

He, the acting chief flag officer, has similar functions to Wang Dali's five small banners, basically focusing on logistics, leading miscellaneous servants and exiles, mining saltpeter and stone, and preparing fire/gun crossbows, which is under the control of Huang Hanxiang in case of war.

Huang Hanxiang made meritorious contributions to guarding the Bailonghu mine, found the exit of the cave, and was also awarded the title of chief flag officer, who could select forty people from the miscellaneous servants and exiles to enrich the strength of the team.

Yu Shan and Du Ding, whose sergeants suffered a lot of casualties, were also allowed to fill a sufficient number of sergeants, and after the wounded soldiers recovered, Xiao Ye had to choose his own personal guards among them.

Xiao Ye, who originally didn't dare to cross the establishment of hundreds of sergeants, after a conversation with Tian Fangjun, after thinking about it all night, suddenly realized that on the grassland, everything else was virtual, and his strength was great.

If you are strong enough, you won't be blocked here by the Tartars, and you will secretly take a long detour.

On the grassland, as long as he can feed him, even if he has the strength of a thousand households, no one can see it; In order not to be overwhelmed by the sea of Tartars, it is inevitable to add sergeants.

Bailong Lake, where the stone is located, is difficult for him to let go of the scarcity of raw materials for water umbrellas.

Promoted from 100 households to 1,000 households, or go up further, Xiao Ye does not have extravagant hopes, with his hard and upright temperament, he is reluctant to even bow down to the officials, how can he balance the relationship with the boss.

Not to mention that Jiang Jie is restrained in the guard, even the three merchants will let themselves stay in Shiguantun and be unable to move, why, the reason in the middle of the house is that the father-in-law has already said it clearly. "Merchants are greedy, every time you rise a level, their capital will double, and you will not be satisfied with being blocked from trading with other merchants, and the military position of a hundred households may be your official position in the future,"

If their strength is big enough, the three merchants will not block their doors, staring at themselves tightly; What's more, Jiang Jie also jumped one level to become the commander of the capital. The truth of his guilt, Xiao Ye knew it in his heart.

But in Shiguantun, as long as you act carefully and have a good hand, I believe that these sergeants on the grassland will not attract much attention. According to Yang Tianshou's words, as long as you don't violate the forbidden border wall, you can say anything.

Outside the territory, orthodox officials and scholars are barren places in the eyes of them, and outside of education, they don't care about life or death.

The exiles brought in, Huang Hanxiang thought about it, and temporarily put them into the miscellaneous team, and the designated flag officer Liu Yanshan was the old man who made the rope ladder, a white-haired fisherman who had worked as a sailor on the Yangtze River.

The promotion of Xu Wangliang and Liu Yanshan's treatment has caused a great sensation in the miscellaneous service, and the newcomers can't believe their eyes.

For a time, the morale of both the miscellaneous criminals and the flag officers soared. Miscellaneous officers and above, but they can get food.

The pack horse team loaded a large leather bag under the mountain stream, Xiao Ye took the sergeant down the rope ladder, left Bailong Lake at noon the next day, and after trekking on the mountain desert road for two days and one night, returned to the south of the canyon to meet the left-behind team.

Lei Xiaoqing's team escorted the pack horse back to Shiguantun, Xiao Ye took his personal guards, and Wang Hu's team of more than 20 people, with a cart to the west; They had to make a detour to the Gobi, avoid the Tartars in the Gobi Desert, and diagonally to the northern foot of the Altai Mountains to find the Haicynian tribe.

Maybe it was bad luck, after walking southwest in the Gobi Desert for three days, Xiao Ye, who had nothing to do all the way, did not expect that when he left the Gobi and entered the grassland again, there was a Tartar herdsman in the distance, looking for the lost sheep, and stumbled upon them.

The herdsman hid in a depression of artemisia grass, and waited until the horse team had passed for half a day, then he cautiously showed his figure, looked around a few times, and went straight to his tribe.

People have missed horses and hooves, monitoring the scouts in the distance, and they haven't noticed that in the depression not far behind them, there are still people staring at their backs.