There are more than 30 military households in Yonghe Tun, which is six or seven percent less than before, and a large area of black ash courtyards that have been burned to ruins is still vivid.

The family members with blank faces watched Xiao Ye walk in front of the house silently, if it weren't for the occasional greeting when he saw Ma Gui, Xiao Ye would even think that the people here had become wood.

This is because the sergeant bought food home overnight, otherwise he would not have been able to see the soldiers hiding at home.

The only grocery store in Tunli, the black-robed shopkeeper, was calling the men to clean up the rubble in front of the door, but there were already some goods in the shop.

"This is the Wang family's shop, and the shopkeeper's name is Wang Yangwu, Datong," Ma Gui and Baihu said in a low voice as they passed by the grocery store; Xiao Ye raised his eyes to look at the shopkeeper standing on the steps, and when his eyes turned, he happened to meet Wang Yangwu's eyes.

Wang Yangwu saw that Ma Gui was accompanying the officer, and naturally knew that the new hundred households had arrived, so he hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute, "It's Ximen Baihu, the villain Wang Yangwu has given you a salute,"

"It's okay, it's okay, shopkeeper Wang, you're busy, you have time to drink tea in the hundred households," Xiao Ye nodded with a smile, said hello, stepped on the dust, and walked forward along the not wide street; It was supposed to be a shop in the Wang family, but he didn't have time to make small talk.

After turning around the tunli, the four narrow streets and alleys in the shape of a tic-tac-toe, after a while, I finished reading, and the tun wall basically collapsed most of the time, and there is no sign of repair until now.

Seeing this, Xiao Ye knew that Luo Yufei had pitted himself this time.

According to Ma Gui's statement, it is necessary to spend a thousand taels of silver to repair this tun wall, and the brick-clad tun wall has a circumference of more than four miles, and I don't know when it will be repaired.

Returning to the Baihu Office, Xiao Ye wrote a letter to Wang Qianhu, describing the embarrassing situation of Yonghetun, asking the Qianhu Institute to clear the money owed to the sergeants, as well as the cost of labor and materials needed to repair the tun wall.

The messenger was a sergeant sent by Ma Gui, and he rode away that day; Xiao Ye pulled Ma Gui to drink herbal tea in the hundred households, listening to him explain the situation in Tunli and the surrounding terrain.

Listening to Ma Gui's words, due to the scarcity of the number of people in the tunli, the Qianhu Institute has delayed this year's wheat harvest, so in the late autumn and early winter, it will be transferred to the Wei Command Si Shen to transfer some of the army exiles, which should arrive at the end of next month.

"Commander Ma," Xiao Ye took a pu fan and shook it vigorously, the temperature here is much hotter than Shiguantun, and there is no wind at all, Xiao Ye is a little unaccustomed to it.

"Hey, Lord Baihu, it's better for you to call me Lao Ma, if it weren't for your generosity, I'm afraid that in a few days, the military households here will run out, and it's useless to have any officials,"

Ma Gui hurriedly shook his hand; He is not a person with a vicious eye, but what Baihu has sent his guards to do in the past few days has made him very emotional, and his good impression of Xiao Ye has gradually grown.

"That's okay, the official is not hypocritical," Xiao Ye smiled and took a sip of herbal tea, the sour taste in his mouth made him feel more comfortable, "The wall is so dilapidated, the house must be repaired immediately, otherwise when winter comes, people will freeze to death at night, and besides, bandits or something, we have to be on guard,"

didn't mention the matter of the Tartars, Xiao Ye knew that it was delusional to block the Tartars with the unbearable cantonment wall.

"Yes, Baihu is right," Ma Gui simply agreed, he had no way, it was up to the new Baihu's means, and he just followed suit.

"Well, in this way, the official will advance the material money first, go back to the thousands of households to write-off, and let's sign the bill of materials," Xiao Ye thought about it, and could only advance the money himself.

took out two silver tickets of five hundred taels of Tianjia Qianzhuang, Xiao Ye handed them over to Ma Gui, in the future, he will only be responsible for managing the accounts, and the specific affairs will be handled by the officials.

Like Shi Guantun, Xiao Ye is happy to leave things to the following, he only looks at the results; Of course, if Ma Gui dared to be greedy for silver tickets, Xiao Ye's hunting knife wouldn't mind opening meat.

"Hundreds of households rest assured, the tun wall must be built before winter," with a huge sum of money, Ma Guile went out in a hurry; Xiao Ye took the teacup and sat there with his eyes closed.

After a while, a figure turned out of the side room and walked into Xiao Ye in a curling manner, Mei'er came to her husband with a fragrance, Liu Ye's thin eyebrows frowned slightly, "Brother Xiao, why don't you use plaster to repair the wall, wouldn't that be stronger?" ”

"Mei'er, you don't understand," Xiao Ye, who expected Mei'er to appear, smiled faintly, "The sergeants here are different from Shiguantun, the tun wall in their hearts has already collapsed, and it is useless to build a strong tun wall,"

"The tun wall is just a foreign object, and it is difficult to keep the shelter, and it is the same whether they repair it or not," gently pulling Mei'er's little hand, Xiao Ye said in a low voice, "I'm just giving those military households some thoughts, so that they can live a prosperous life,"

"You want to pull them to Shiguantun," Mei'er pursed her lips, and a word broke Xiao Ye's thoughts; The embarrassed Xiao Ye just shook his head and diverted the topic.

A thousand taels of silver are smashed, as long as the military households are willing to work hard, it is no problem to spend this winter, but to repair the wall in the hearts of the military households, Xiao Ye has no better way.

While talking, Lina, who was wearing a green gauze skirt, jumped and ran in, she had just walked around the gate for a while, with a faint sadness on her face, "Husband, can you give me some money?" ”

"What are you asking for money, just go to the grocery store and let Zuo Shi follow," Xiao Ye asked puzzledly, since Lina arrived in Shiguantun, in less than a year, she followed Mei'er and Hanjuan to mess around, except for the golden hair and blue eyes, the others are almost the same as the Ming women.

"No, I don't buy things, well, I want to buy things," Lina, who was struggling, was urged by Mei'er to say that she had just seen a few little girls, and she could see her buttocks in tatters, and she wanted to buy some coarse cloth for them.

"Hehe, Lina, it's better to teach a mermaid than to teach a man to fish, I think, let's recruit some maids, so that those military households can also feel at ease," Xiao Ye touched Lina's soft long hair, and loved this kind-hearted girl more and more.

sent Zuoshi to find Ma Gui, Xiao Ye told him that he wanted to recruit some maids and rough women, but Ma Gui was so excited that he said that there was no problem, and he almost knelt down for Baihu; You must know that there are a lot of weak women and children in Tunli, and their lives will not last long.

The next day, Xiao Ye was harvesting wild grass in the martial arts arena with a few guards, when he saw seven or eight young and old women in the corners of the backyard, following Lina, who was babbling, and came directly to him.

"Master, the slave family's favored maid mother-in-law, Mrs. said that she wanted you to take a look first," In front of outsiders, Lina, like Mei'er, called Master Xiao Ye, and called Brother Xiao in private.

Holding a sickle in his hand, Xiao Ye was dressed in a short beat, sweating profusely cutting the wild grass, seeing Lina running over, he naturally didn't dare to let her approach, "Stop, stop, Lina, you go out quickly, if there is a long worm here, it will be bad if it bites,"

This place is close to the mountains, and long insects can be seen on both sides of the road outside from time to time, this is a martial arts arena that has been wasted for a long time, and he just saw the guards swing their sickles and cut off a flower-headed long worm.

was shouted by Xiao Ye, Lena hurriedly ran away with a group of women, revealing Ma Gui who was following behind.

"Old Ma, you're here," Xiao Ye greeted without raising his head, tied a large bundle of wild grass with both hands neatly, and threw it aside, "The maid you are looking for is a little more, four or five will be, why are there so many?" ”

"Hehe, Lord Baihu, is it a subordinate official," Ma Gui stepped forward and snatched the sickle in Xiao Ye's hand diligently, and diligently harvested the knee-high wild grass, and from time to time knocked twice in the grass in front of him, even if there were insects, snakes and the like, they were scared away.

"These women are all helpless family members of military families, the man is dead, there are children and old people to support at home, the pension has not come down, and the little salary and food of the lower officials are not enough at all," Ma Gui's babbling words made Xiao Ye's dissatisfaction with him gradually dissipate.

This Ma Gui, although he is not a good officer, but he can't be wrong to be the housekeeper of a hundred households, Xiao Yesha looked at the sky, and beckoned Ma Gui to go to the front yard together. There are guards here to clean up, and you can do it in a day.

Mei'er and Lena picked two good-looking girls to be maids, and there were six other rough wives to cook, wash and clean the courtyard, and there were enough people; Uncle Kun and his guards lived in the wing, and after they had subordinates, they immediately became the stewards of the family, directing these mothers-in-law to do things.

When Xiao Ye sent someone to deliver the second letter to Qianhusuo, when it was still on the way, the military households in Yonghe Tun were mobilized by Ma Gui, and even the craftsmen and military households in the nearby tunzi also heard the wind and rushed over with tools such as shovels.

Repairing the cantonment wall has its own Ma Gui to worry about, Xiao Ye's most urgent thing now is the problem of the lack of sergeants in the hundred households, there are more than fifty sergeants, and he doesn't know where to pull people.

Unlike Shiguantun, there are large grain fields, although the harvest is not good, but there can be stuttering, and the craftsmen will not go to be sergeants.

Just when Xiao Ye was worried, at the foot of Shiguantun Mountain, Lei Xiaoqing's team, escorting a team of pack horses from the horse road to Shishan, drove directly into the quarry mill, and the few Hu Baihu guards who tried to check the pack horses were pushed aside by the sergeant with guns.

Hu Shibiao, who heard the sound, rushed to the No. B stone mill angrily, and at this time, Lei Qiguan and Wang Dali couldn't stop it, so they let Hu Baihu look at the craftsmen, and sent bags of heavy ore and saltpeter between the iron ore materials and sent them into the stone mill like flowing water.

What followed was a steady stream of earthy yellow plaster, which stunned Hu Shibiao.

"That, Lei Xiaoqing, come here," Walking out of the dusty mill, Hu Shibiao called Lei Xiaoqing in front of him and pointed to the busy craftsmen in the mill, "You guys are these transported back from the grassland?" ”

"Oh," Lei Xiaoqing carried the fire/gun on his back, and grabbed his hair honestly, "Lord Baihu, the Tartars are treacherous, we can't help it, this is a stone throwing to ask for directions, I didn't find the Tartars appearing, there will be Wang Hu and they will rush back at night, if they don't come, it will be a few days at night,"

Oh, that's the case, Hu Shibiao's face soothed, no wonder Gansu Zhenguilou, once every two months, there are still a lot of ways in it.

Lei Xiaoqing's rhetoric was discussed between Xiao Ye and the big guy, and there was no way to do it, and the lies were becoming more and more difficult to fulfill.

After getting a "reasonable" explanation, Hu Shibiao warned Lei Xiaoqing a few words and left stupidly.

Although he was greedy for the three B-shaped stone mills in this mill, he also knew that he could not get his hands on them immediately, and if he provoked the military households and craftsmen, the consequences would be unpredictable.

That night, a fast horse galloped out of the stone mountain and went straight to the nearest old sheep's mouth fire pier, where Xiao Ye's guards were already waiting impatiently. As long as Lei Xiaoqing's sergeant brought the message to Lao Yangkou, his task was completed, and he had to return to Shiguantun as soon as possible.

Lao Yangkou Huodun, supervising Zhang Zichang's personal guards who trained fire/guns and crossbows, and even demonstrated the use of earth-shaking thunder to them in the past few days, but he only had two of these things, so he couldn't actually operate them.

The guards inadvertently said their salaries, and suddenly the sergeants in the fire pier looked at him with a change in their eyes, Zhang Zichang pulled the middle-aged sergeant, and after drinking the ale twice, he strongly asked to join the guards of the hundred households.

Yes, the guards readily agreed, the fire/gun, and crossbow shooting met the requirements, and the earth-shaking thunder threw three, and a shallow pit thirty steps away, as long as it was thrown within half a step of the shallow pit, it was basically fine.

After listening to the words of the eldest brother of the guard, Zhang Zichang was also discouraged, the hundred-step fire/gun, the crossbow to hit the target, or the moving wooden target, isn't that embarrassing, it seems that the errand of the guard is difficult; There was only one fire/gun in the fire pier, and the projectile was limited, so it was impossible for each person to shoot one shot a day for a while.

At noon, a fast horse rushed to the vicinity of the old sheep's mouth fire pier, took out the binoculars, and after seeing the appearance of the comer from a distance, the guards hurriedly ran off the platform and pulled out their war horses from the horse pen.

The two war horses in the horse circle, in comparison, the tall and sturdy, the weak and thin, Zhang Zichang had the idea of crying, and his eyes were sour every time he saw it.

"I have something to do to go to Guoziwa, and I'll go back when I go," hurriedly explained to Zhang Zichang, and the guards neatly got out of the fire pier, and rode down the high slope to meet the comers.

Standing at the gate of the pier, Zhang Zichang, who was holding a box of canned food in his hand, looked at the bottom of the slope in a daze, and after the two sergeants said a few words, they ran to the avenue together, where the two parted ways.

"Obediently, what Brother Qinwei took just now is clairvoyance," Zhang Zichang muttered in his mouth, tossing about this catty of "canned food", pondering how to eat.

Lei Xiaoqing's message relayed, from Lao Yangkou to Guoziwa, and then to Yonghetun, Xiao Ye's personal guards left in each fire pier were not just as simple as training sergeants; If it weren't for the fact that the fire pier was more than five miles apart, he would only need to send an order.

Xiao Ye got the news, it was already a day later, and the guards who drove the horses galloped wildly, and Shengsheng finished the two-day journey in one day, and the war horses were foaming at the mouth.

That night, Xiao Ye summoned Ma Gui and told him that he was going to inspect the fire piers, so that he could take care of the tunli, and the team of guards left behind would cooperate with him to manage the craftsmen who repaired the tun walls.

"Hey, Baihu is too diligent, and he has to hurry at night," Ma Gui, who suffers from night blindness, came back to his senses when he saw the horse team disappear into the night with a lantern, could it be that they could see the road clearly at night?

Looking at the two straight guards standing at the gate of the hundred households, Ma Gui's heart suddenly brightened, perhaps, the arrival of the new hundred households can make their lives much better than Luo Yufei, who ran back to the thousand households.

didn't look at the large grain field outside the tun, that is, Xiao Ye didn't have time to deal with Luo Yufei, once he had time, he had to go to the Qianhu Institute, either to get money, or to use the grain field or saltpeter sulfur and other things to offset the account, anyway, the monk couldn't run the field, he was not in a hurry.

The money that should be spent Xiao Ye is not ambiguous, and the money that should not be spent Xiao Ye has to worry about a penny, he is hungry.

Two days later, Xiao Ye took advantage of the night to return to Shiguantun and was welcomed by the sergeant into the quarry stone fort.

When he went up to the mountain, he didn't feel good, because Hu Shibiao was nearby, he came up in the dark, as if he was a thief, which was really uncomfortable.

Damn, one day, Lao Tzu came back beautifully, Xiao Ye, who was ruthless in his heart, shook his head vigorously, and strode into the stone castle.

The guards under the mountain here are all arranged by the sunspots, and Hu Baihu's guards are too lazy to stay outside, so they go back to sleep early after dark; At most, it would be good to stand two at the door of the hundred households.

More than half of Hu Shibiao's guards suffer from night blindness, and he is not willing to slaughter a healthy cow every month like Xiao Ye, and he eats green salt in the room.

Leaving five personal guards, Xiao Ye took Xiao Liuzi and rode straight to the stone fort of No. 1.

A number of stone forts were put out early, and the heralds stared at the gate of the tun and the Huang family's shops in the dark night, until the two war horses entered the stone fort in the dark, and then they secretly breathed a sigh of relief; However, without the letter post from the fort wall, they would not have withdrawn.

Xiao Ye, who rushed to the stone castle, said a few words to Wang Ziliang and Wang Dali, who were waiting outside the mill, and stepped into the mill; At the door, Xiao Liuzi habitually blocked there, and no one was allowed to enter without the order of a hundred households.

In fact, when Xiao Ye was away, Wang Ziliang and Wang Dali had already turned around the mill for an unknown number of times, and they couldn't see the strangeness of the period, so they gave up their minds.

When Xiao Ye stepped into the mill, above his head, a familiar picture quietly emerged, Xiao Ye silently opened the military catalog, the rifle raw materials are enough, but the bullet is not good, there is no copper, he can't take out one.

I think that the kernels collected in this tunli are also the kind of earthy yellow.

Retreating to the second, Xiao Ye took out twenty rear-loading fires/guns, 2,000 projectiles, 150 crossbows, and 3,000 short arrows; Later, in the civilian catalog, ten pocket watches were taken after selection.

Carrying the cloth bag containing the pocket watch, Xiao Ye walked out of the mill and called Wang Ziliang and Wang Dali, who were standing far away, over, "Brother Liu Ren, take half of the fire/spear crossbow officer, and you let Heizi send the rest to Madao Stone Fort, where there is our arsenal,"

Turning his head to look at Wang Dali, Xiao Ye smiled and took out a pocket watch and handed it to him, "Uncle Wang, Ziliang has a pocket watch, you also need one, when things are good, he turned around and taught you how to read the watch,"

"For the rest of the crossbows, the official will arrange for Wang Meng to lead the team to Haixi Village, and the transaction with them cannot be broken," It's easy to come back, Xiao Ye has a lot of things to explain."

Without the support of the merchants, Baodes was too far away, and Xiao Ye couldn't get more items this time, so he could only explain to Wang Dali, and try to arrange people to collect a batch of firewood and grass first, at least those white stunned papers must not be out of stock.

Bai stunned paper is his killer weapon to deal with the Tian family, as long as this source of goods is in his hands, the Tian family will not easily put aside the transaction with himself.

After explaining the official business, Xiao Ye went to his former hundred households, Han Juan followed Yang Tianshou to live there, in order to let Han Juan read more books, Xiao Ye ruthlessly left her.

Overnight, Xiao Ye and his entourage left Shiguantun, and they had to rush to Xilonghe before dawn, where they would rest so that their whereabouts would not be discovered. This time, there were ten more guards who stayed in the stone fort.

The money and food that Luo Yufei and Qianhu owe him gave Xiao Ye confidence, so what does it matter if there are ten more guards.

Excluding the guards left in the fire piers everywhere, plus the thirty-five in Yonghe Tun, Xiao Ye's ten guards around him were not enough.

Soon after descending the mountain, the guards flashed their torches and hurried by the light of the fire.

However, if it goes on like this, it is a matter of time before others discover the strangeness in the mill, Xiao Ye, who is riding on a horse, is silently thinking about his heart, and he does not care about the hot pain in his inner thighs.

The horse team rumbled through a fork in the road, and here they turned the corner and went to the workshop in the back mountain, but everyone did not notice it, a pair of eyes under the coptis tree by the side of the road, staring closely at the flashing team.

Fang Shanshui planted the dark line in the workshop, and by coincidence, he saw a team of war horses galloping by, and the few mules and horses carrying iron boxes in the team were very abrupt.

After dawn, Hu Shibiao, who had slept beautifully, learned the habits of Shiguantun, ate gruel and flatbread, and was about to go to the yard to move his hands and feet, when he saw Wang Dali running in in a hurry.

"Hehe, Priest Wang, what is the hurry in the morning?" Hu Shibiao, who was carrying an iron spear, was about to move his body, although it was not yin and yang, but his tone was definitely not much better.

Shiguantun has him and he doesn't have everything as usual, and he pulls up the grain on the mountain, and he doesn't even have the opportunity to buy people's hearts, so he can only keep it for himself to eat, and hand it over to the guy at least without paying for food.

"Lord Baihu, Xia Guan has just learned that the goods of the Persians have been sent to Gansu Town, and they are escorted by the personal guards sent by Ximen Baihu," Wang Dali, who was dressed in an anxious manner, was full of sweat beads; Running from the quarry in one go, at this age, it is impossible not to sweat.

"What? Ximen Xiaoye, "As if bitten by a snake, Hu Shibiao suddenly jumped up, threw the iron spear on the ground, pointed at Wang Dali's nose and couldn't speak.

He worked hard to send money to find favors, didn't he just want to come here to make a fortune, but he didn't expect that such a sincere person would be swept away by Simon's kid.

Hu Shibiao, who was about to get angry, looked at Wang Dali's panicked face, suddenly calmed down, shook his hand fiercely, and turned back to the house.

Wang Dali watched Hu Baihu leave, looked at the guards next to him in embarrassment, touched his head and retreated.

He and Wang Ziliang almost saw that the Persian rhetoric was simply a trick to bluff people, and those rare goods should have been made up by Xiao Ge'er himself.

Otherwise, others will not be able to catch a single hair in the mill, Xiao Ye went in less than a cup of tea, and a bunch of goods appeared in Hulala.

But if they dare to think about it, they can only hide it in their hearts.

As for Lena and Baudes, Wang Dali couldn't understand it, and he didn't know if it was a Persian, but Simon Baihu's attitude towards them was not a request at all, but a seller.

It takes a long time to get along with each other to see this.

Ghostly means, Wang Dali, who suppressed the shock in his heart, like Wang Ziliang, guessed that it was hidden deep in his heart, but his loyalty to Ximen Baihu was once again raised to a new height.

If nothing else, it is that the Ximen Baihu asked them to wait outside the mill, which has already shown their trust in themselves, and those guards are also waiting outside.

Thinking of this, Wang Dali showed a satisfied smile on his face, and his steps became more and more brisk.

When five days later, when the news came from Gansu Town that Fuguilou had auctioned nine exquisite pocket watches, Hu Shibiao was completely angry, and it was the Tian family caravan that had come to deliver grain to Shiguantun that brought him the news.

The materials brought back to the mountain by the caravan of the Baodesto Tian family directly made Hu Shibiao's eyes red.

Hu Shibiao didn't want to see what was loaded in the Tian family's caravan, and he didn't dare to offend, but the carriages and pack horses pulled into the quarry stone fort were as many as hundreds of them, which was enough to make him vomit blood.

Xiao Ye also has some experience in this trip, it seems that there is a large warehouse under the No. A stone mill, as long as you don't take the goods, the six B-shaped stone mills don't stop at all, just like a greedy mouth, a little turn, all kinds of raw materials are constantly devoured, and the waste discharged is yellow plaster.

Is the waste yellow plaster? Hehe, only Xiao Ye guessed like this.

When Lei Xiaoqing's team was carrying food supplies and preparing to return to Madao Stone Fort, Hu Shibiao appeared, with heavily armed guards, and he had to follow him.

Coincidentally, the goods left by Xiao Ye to Wang Meng's team were taken away this time, and after asking Wang Dali, Wang Ziliang had no objection, and Heizi happily agreed to Hu Shibiao's request.

After all, this is his boss on the surface, even if he doesn't see it, he can't be presumptuous.

It's just that how to deal with Hu Shibiao, Wang Dali and Wang Ziliang still have to rack their brains.