Hundreds of bloody heads hung on the gates of the city, and the atmosphere of the city immediately became extremely solemn. Mu Kun's guilt was posted at the gate of the city, and the people of the city knew the cause of his death, and they were extremely shocked by Ma Lu's iron hand.

Hu Shang of all ethnic groups was frightened, but the Han people were extremely excited, Duan Xiushi has always been serious, and he disagreed with Ma Lu's simple and rude handling methods, and after hearing Ma Lan say that he had sent troops to Tocharian to strangle the descendants of the Persian king, he immediately expressed strong opposition.

"General, although Mu Kun deserves to die, after all, he is the governor of Persia appointed by His Majesty, the descendants of Balus have been attached to the Tang Dynasty for almost a hundred years, and Pushang still often sends people to Chang'an to pay tribute in the Tocharian Mountains, whether it is to execute Mu Kun or exterminate the descendants of the Persian queen, such a major event should be reported to Chang'an before making a decision."

"Chenggong, Your Majesty ordered me to preside over all affairs west of the quicksand, and even allowed me to decide on my own to make peace, because Anxi is far away, and the transmission of news takes too long. According to the will of the Son of Heaven, I have the right to kill and take away to the west of the quicksands, and the descendants of Balus are in the Tocharian Mountains, which is also the territory of Anxi, how can I not kill him? Such a trivial matter will be reported to Chang'an, and then wait for half a year, how will you and I do things in the river? ”

Duan Xiushi looked at Ma Lu, shook his head and said, "General, I'm not against you killing the Balus clan, it's just that I don't want the general to cause right and wrong." The trouble of a general is that the official position is too high, the power is too heavy, and the tree is very popular, and every move should be cautious. His Majesty gave the general the authority to dispose of affairs west of the quicksand, but didn't the general really want to do whatever he wanted west of the quicksand? When the news of the extermination of the Balus clan reached Chang'an, it would inevitably cause some discussion and give opportunities to those with ulterior motives. The stakes are high, and the general is not careful! ”

Ma Ling smiled and said: "Chenggong, I am now the envoy of the Five Towns Festival, and I have absolute power west of the quicksand, do you think that if I am cautious, there will be no turmoil in the court?" Your Majesty gave me such a great power, obviously to roast me on the fire, do you think I can do this position for a long time? To put it mildly, Your Majesty is already old, even if Your Majesty can always trust me, but in the future, when the new emperor ascends the throne, will he still be able to tolerate me? At that point, someone will have to replace me. So what does it matter if I'm cautious or not? I'm just going to do whatever I want west of the quicksand and quickly carve out a situation. If you look forward and take care of your feathers, you can do much less. ”

Duan Xiushi was silent for a moment, sighed and said, "What the general said is very true, but I am confused. ”

Ma Lan smiled, looked at Duan Xiushi and said, "Chenggong, it's a pity that you are two years older than me, otherwise I really hope that you will take over my position at that time." Among the generals in Anxi, the ones I trust the most are Dr. Feng and Cheng Gong, but unfortunately Dr. Feng is older than you and me. If Cheng Gong is a few years younger, I can pass on all the skills of my life to Cheng Gong, and in the future, Cheng Gong will succeed me as the lord of the river, and continue to open up to the west with the Tang Dynasty athletes. It's a pity, it's a pity! ”

Duan Xiushi smiled bitterly and said: "If there is really that day, as long as the general does not have the heart of disobedience, I am willing to shoulder this heavy responsibility, even if I can't open up, it shouldn't be a problem to keep it." ”

"There will be that day, when Ma Lan wanders the world, these thousands of miles of good rivers and mountains will be entrusted to Chenggong, thank Chenggong today." Ma Luan looked solemn and arched his hand towards Duan Xiushi.

Duan Xiushi shook his head, and also arched his hand towards Ma Lan.

Although there were no more words, there was already an agreement between the two. Duan Xiushi has an excellent reputation and is familiar with affairs, and when Ma Lan is forced to leave the river in the future, Duan Xiushi will be the lord of the river, which will be the best choice at present.

Niu Xu had already left the city with a large army, and rode into the southern foot of the Green Mountain, and the fate of the Persian king Pushan and his family could not be changed. Cutting down the grass to eradicate the root cause is Ma Lan's principle towards enemies who may threaten his family.

After Ma Lan woke up, the staff became busy, and the war machine of the Anxi Army began to spin again, preparing for the next expedition.

Changxingfang has been transporting supplies from Anxi to this side, and in the past year, there have been more than 2,000 new Yuanrong crossbows created by Li Xiu, and all of them have been transported. Now Ma Lu did not expand the army here, but only replenished the new army to 10,000 people, and among these 10,000 people, there were nearly 6,000 Yuan Rong crossbowmen, and the attack power was strengthened again.

The replacement of the riding crossbow is equipped to guard the city of Anxi soldiers, the production of riding crossbows in the Ma family workshop is much higher than that of Yuanrong crossbows, and now the Anxi athletes who do not belong to the new army in the city are basically equipped with riding crossbows, almost reaching one person.

The new type of fire mine has been completely finalized, and it has also been transported in a steady stream, and granulated gunpowder and a large number of arquebuses have also been continuously transported to the west of Green Mountain. The fire and thunder thing Ma Lan was not prepared to spread, but only intended to be used in the Anxi army, and the arquebus was all allocated to the Eighth Army in the River, and now each of the Eight Army in the River has a arquebus team of 500 people. Ma Lan did not expect the people of the Eighth Army to participate in the expeditionary operations, but they must be given a certain amount of self-preservation.

According to Gao Qianqian's letter, the Ma family workshop has expanded again, and has expanded to both sides of the Sihun River, under the auspices of master Li Xiu, individual workshops have begun to use waterwheels to provide energy, and the production efficiency has been greatly accelerated. The Ma family workshop has now shifted its focus to the production of military supplies, and the business of civilian materials has dropped to less than thirty percent, and half of the Hu merchants in the entire Qiuzi City have been annexed by the Ma family trading house, and the other half of the Hu merchants have a lot of business dealings with the Ma family trading house.

Yuan Rong crossbows, riding crossbows and arquebuses, the Ma family workshop was sold to the Anxi army after reserving part of the profits, due to the increasing production volume, the large-scale expansion of the workshop, the original treasury money is far from enough. Later, when Feng Changqing purchased materials, they were all white strips, and they all relied on Gao Qianqian to advance money into them to continue production. Now the flow of the Ma family's workshop has almost dried up, and the Hu merchants have to pay credit to the merchants to maintain production.

For this, Gao Qianqian is obviously very complaining, which can be clearly seen in the letter. Ma Lan felt sorry for Gao Qianqian, but if it was just the difficulties of the Ma family's workshop, the key was that Li Xiu and the craftsmen from Chang'an had not received the dividends they deserved for a long time, which Ma Lan did not dare to neglect, after all, Li Xiu and these people were the foundation of the workshop, and it could also be said to be the foundation of the new army.

So Ma Lan found Duan Xiushi and asked Duan Xiushi to immediately settle with Gao Qianqian according to the white strip sent by Gao Qianqian with the seal of Changqing, so as not to let the craftsmen in the workshop fluctuate.

This time, the wealth brought from the city of Kufa exceeded 10 million dinars, enough to build two cities of Baghdad, and there was no problem in paying for this expenditure. However, when Duan Xiushi gave a total, he and Ma Lu were both taken aback.

The amount of money to be paid to Gao Qianqian alone was worth more than three million dinars, and according to the original cost of Mansur to build the city of Baghdad, most of the city of Baghdad could be built.

At this time, Ma Lan realized that the war was fought on the economy and wealth. The price of more than 2,000 Yuanrong crossbows is 500 yuan, the price of nearly 4,000 arquebuses with bayonets is 120 yuan, 7,800 light riding crossbows, a large number of fire mines, barrels of granulated gunpowder, war horses' shoes and spurs, not to mention steel crossbows with great force...... All of this adds up to such a staggering number.

Fortunately, these things are not consumables, and they can be used for a long time, and it is not necessary to spend three million dinars every year to buy these things.

With Gao Qianqian's temperament, it is impossible to embarrass Ma Ling until the last resort. She sent so many white strips with the letter this time, it should be really unsupportable. The credit of the Dadu Protectorate is certainly very good, but the goods of the Hu merchants will eventually be settled in real money.

For Datang to rise, these things must be produced continuously, and without the supply of raw materials from Hu merchants, the Ma family workshop itself will not be able to do it, so the settlement with Gao Qianqian must be carried out immediately.

When Duan Xiushi opened the city treasury, the expression on his face was as if he was constipated. The wealth worth three million dinars of gold was taken out at one time, and he was naturally extremely distressed.

The gold and silver coins and various precious stones were transported out of the fishing city by the athletes of Changxingfang and sent to Anxi in a mighty way. After this wealth arrived in Anxi, the predicament of the Ma family's workshop could be immediately lifted, and the Hu merchants could get the profits they deserved, and the business could continue.

Of course, Gao Qianqian has worked hard for a whole year, and she will get the profits she deserves in return.

Ma Lan understood that with the current production capacity of the Ma family's workshop, the materials produced by the Anxi Army would one day not be able to eat, and they would have to be sold to other border armies. However, no matter who wants these military supplies, they must be exchanged for real money, and it will definitely not be possible to take them for nothing.

When Li Siye left the city, he left behind more than 10,000 Anxi athletes, some of whom were scattered to the camel shops in various places, and a small number of them were stationed in Samojian, and there were still thousands of people in the city. This time to prepare for the expedition, Ma Lan first sent 1,000 people to the Lantian Army presided over by Du Fu, and sent 1,000 people each to the Anhua Army in the lower reaches of the dense water and the Huating Army in Tiemen Pass to assist in guarding the military town, and sent 1,000 people to Mulu City to assist the tax collector Bageri in managing the city, leaving only more than 3,000 people to defend the city in the capture and drinking city.

The 10,000 Anxi new army was divided into two armies by Ma Lu, each equipped with 15,000 Arab horses and more than 2,000 Yuan Rong crossbowmen. Ma Lan led the first army by himself, and the deputy general Tian Mingyuan led the first army by himself, preparing to divide the troops into two routes, each carrying out development and expansion. There are 1,000 fewer people on Ma Lan's side for the time being, and those 1,000 people have been taken by Niu Xu to the Tocharian Mountains, and they will be driven back after the Pushang clan is cut off.

The target of Ma Lan's attack was Xi Mi, a cargo merchant in the lower reaches of the Wuhu River. The task set for Tian Mingyuan was to first go to Youshabul City, which had already returned to the Tang Dynasty, turn to the southeast to collect the ancient city of Herat, which already had the leading party in the city, and then continue to march to the southeast until it reached the Persian Governor's Palace. (To be continued.) )