In the countryside of Banshu, there are groups of uninvited guests. They were in groups of a dozen people, with heavy luggage, and occasionally stayed at an inn in the town, buying food for more than ten days, and then hurried out before dawn and disappeared among the reckless mountains.

The local people of Banshu don't care about these outsiders with a southeastern accent, because they don't think they are much different from ordinary traveling merchants. No one knows where these outsiders came from or where they are going, only that after they settle down, they always ask the shop about the surrounding mountains and rivers, the distribution of villages, and so on. In fact, this is nothing new, as a traveling businessman, you always have to go to the village to sell goods. These circumstances are no secret, and the proprietors are happy to show their knowledge in this area.

The third small banner led by He Bencheng was assigned to the northeast of Banzhou, and this area is known locally as Da Lou Mountain. Like the rest of Banshu, the Daloushan area is steep and ravine-wide, and when you walk halfway to two places not far apart, you will find a vertical cliff that looks like it has been cut by a knife, and the river is rushing underneath, making it impassable. If you want to cross the past, you can only take a detour, and this detour is often dozens of miles.

The survey camp has a natural advantage in finding roads, they carry out surveying and mapping along the way, and they can do everything they have walked through, so even if they want to take a detour, they often will not take the wrong road, let alone get lost in the mountains. He Bencheng had a complete map of the local area in his hand, and after each survey, he had to fill in a piece, and then lead the team towards those blank areas.

Su Hao paid out of his own pocket for the white rice and big fish and meat provided to the soldiers. That's where the results come in. Such a high-intensity mountain operation, replaced by the ordinary Ming army, I am afraid that it would have been dragged down long ago, but the soldiers of the survey battalion were able to persevere and maintain a good physical condition.

"I said, brothers, what did you grow up eating, why are you so energetic." Wang Gui, a soldier sent by Chongqing Wei to do auxiliary work, asked with emotion. He walked empty-handed, and the soldiers of the survey battalion had to carry tripods and tents, but they walked faster than him, which made him, a local soldier, feel very shameless.

"Eat more meat." Xiong Min Fan replied angrily. "If you don't eat meat, you won't have the strength."

"Who doesn't want to eat meat, but if we are soldiers, can we afford to eat meat with just a little military salary?" Wang Gui muttered.

He Bencheng patted Wang Gui's shoulder with a smile and said, "If you want to eat meat, follow us Su Baihu to ensure that you have meat to eat every day." ”

"Hey, He Xiaoqi. What kind of person are you Su Baihu, how do I think that even our Fu Commander is very polite to him. You don't know. Our thousands of households are all afraid to come out in front of Commander Fu, you Su Baihu, talk to Commander Fu casually, let us all sweat for him, but Commander Fu doesn't care at all. Is there someone in his family who is a big official? Wang Gui inquired with a gossip spirit.

Before they set off, Fu Zhong did come to lecture everyone, and Su Hao behaved quite calmly at that time, which shocked the soldiers sent from Chongqing Wei.

Hearing that Wang Gui was praising his hundred households, Xiong Minfan became proud. He pouted and said, "Our Su Baihu, that is a famous earth master, and even the father-in-law in the palace is angry with him." Let me tell you, when others are in Fengcheng, they just look at the color of the west, and they know that hundreds of miles to the west, there is a place called Tonggushi where there is a gold mine. Take someone to one. Sure enough, I found a big gold mine, have you ever heard of such a thing? ”

"You're bragging, aren't you?" Wang Guida shook his head, "Listen to what you say." Didn't he race against the gods? ”

"Originally, he was the Wenqu star in the sky." Xiong Minfan said, "If you don't believe it, when will you go to Fengcheng with me to ask, I don't know that there are many Su Baihu, but I don't know Su Dishi, there is no one." ”

"You know that I can't go to Jiangxi with you, and you still say this kind of thing to block me." Wang Gui said disdainfully.

"Attention, there's someone up ahead." The third child of the Xiong family, who was walking in front of the team, suddenly shouted and warned everyone.

Everyone quickly stopped, He Bencheng walked two steps quickly, came to the front, raised his eyes, and saw a group of local natives wrapped in cloths walking a few hundred steps away, about fifty or sixty people, all of whom were young and strong men. They all held knives, guns, sticks and other weapons in their hands, and the target was directly at the location where He Bencheng and the others were staying.

"Who's up ahead?"

Before He Bencheng and the others could dodge, the natives had already come to their side, and one of them took a few steps forward, speaking in a not very proficient Chinese, and shouted at He Bencheng and the others.

"Oh, we're passing merchants." He Bencheng walked out of his hiding place and replied respectfully.

"Merchant?" The native turned his head and muttered a few words to a native, who looked like a wealthy leader. The leader said something, and the native from before turned around and shouted to He Bencheng: "Come here, our Buwen Tusi wants to ask you." ”

He Bencheng glanced at his subordinates, and everyone quietly grasped the short blade hidden in their arms, ready to deal with the unexpected. He Bencheng pulled his clothes, put a smile on his face, and walked quickly to the front of Buwen Toast. Chongqing soldier Wang Gui also followed closely behind He Bencheng, he was familiar with the local dialect, and was ready to act as a translator for He Bencheng when necessary.

"Where are you a merchant?" Buwen Tusi also asked He Bencheng in Chinese, his Chinese was even more difficult to hear than the man in front of him, and He Bencheng took a lot of effort to understand what he was saying.

"Little He Bencheng asked Buwen Toast to say goodbye." He Bencheng said with a flattering expression, and at the same time made a big salute to Bu Wen. There are countless toasts on the ground in Banzhou, the small toast is equivalent to the landlord on the Han side, and the big toast is like Yang Yinglong, which is equivalent to a prince. Since He Bencheng is pretending to be a businessman, when he sees the local toast, he naturally has to be extremely respectful.

"The small one came from Jiangxi and sold some groceries locally." He Bencheng continued.

"Bring me your goods." Bwen said.

He Bencheng turned around and said hello, and Xiong Minfan came over with a cloth bag. He Bencheng opened the cloth bag and let Bu Wen look at it, it was nothing more than some ironware, fabrics, salt, tea and other goods, and the merchants who wandered around this area brought such goods.

"Well, put it away." Bwen nodded, although it was in the barren mountains and mountains, he didn't have the heart to plunder. This is a tacit understanding between the locals and the foot merchants, everyone can only do trade, not take by force. The mountain people need the footmen to bring them all kinds of goods, and if they rob these footmen and cause the supply of goods to be cut off, the people of other tribes will not agree.

"This is a little bit of heart for Bowen Toast." He Bencheng took out a bag of tea leaves and held it in his hand. This is the high-end tea that Su Hao specially purchased before they set off, and the packaging alone is quite exquisite, and it is perfect for gifts.

Sure enough, a smile appeared on Buwen Toast's face, he was just a small toast, he could be arrogant and domineering in his own territory, but it was not as good as bullshit when he walked out of this territory. Such a bag of tea, the merchant carried it to the mountains to sell, and it cost several taels of silver, which was a very considerable expenditure for the small tribe of Buwen, so he was easily reluctant to buy this kind of tea. As soon as He Bencheng made a move, it was such a generous gift, and Bu Wen was naturally very happy.

"Rileng, go and take it." Buwen pretended to be reserved, and instructed the native who had spoken earlier.

The native named Rileng stepped forward and took the tea in He Bencheng's hand, and He Bencheng stepped aside, waiting for Bu Wen to speak.

Buwen took the tea from Rilen's hand, put it on the side of his nose and smelled it, nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "Stranger, I heard the medicine picker in the village say that you have been walking around the edge of the village for the past few days, and what compass are you holding to take a look around, why is this?" ”

"Uh, what about this......" He Bencheng was a little speechless. It turned out that the matter of surveying and mapping on his side had already been noticed by the other party, and the other party came with so many people and weapons to ask what was going on. Surveying and mapping requires benchmarking and theodolite, and the observation time is relatively long, so it is impossible to completely show no traces. Presumably, when his side was surveying and mapping, he was inadvertently bumped into by the people in the village, which led to the Buwen Toast.

"Back to Bowen Toast, in addition to doing business, the little one also has an errand as a land master. My master is a big miner, and he sent the small ones to this mountain, wanting to let the small ones have any mineral deposits in this mountain that can be mined. He Bencheng replied according to what Su Hao taught him.

"Open a mine?" Bowen's eyes sparkled, "What mines can I open in this mountain farm?" ”

"This ...... The little ones don't dare to say. He Bencheng deliberately sold Guanzi.

"Why don't you dare to say it?" Bwen's eyes widened.

He Bencheng said: "My master said that there is coal to be mined in this mountain. However, I'm afraid that this coal deposit is not in the mountain field of the Buwen Tusi family, and even if the small one says it, it will be in vain. ”

Bu Wen's face was a little surprised, but Rilen on the side stepped forward and muttered a few words to Bu Wen, Bu Wen's face shone again, and he waved his hand to Rilen and said, "You go and talk to this stranger." ”

Rilen stepped forward and said to He Bencheng: "Stranger, my toast asks you, are you sure you can find coal in this mountain?" ”

He Bencheng said: "This matter of searching for coal needs to be surveyed first. Only by surveying the feng shui everywhere can we determine the location of the coal deposit. However, my master has already said that there must be coal in this mountain. If He could not find coal, he was willing to sacrifice 50 taels of silver to the toast to atone for his sins. ”

"Okay, then I'll inform the Tusi of Jiutong and Eighteen Villages to help you survey the public opinion. If you find coal, everyone will share the profits equally. If you don't find coal, a stranger, you yourself said that you are willing to give 50 taels of silver, but you can't rely on the debt. Bowen said in a high-spirited manner. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )