After returning to the big tent, everyone's attitude towards Xiao Ruxun was obviously a little more sycophant. These steppe tribes are accustomed to the law of the jungle, whoever has strength, they will be attached to whom, on the contrary, whoever is easy to bully, they will attack in groups.

The Ming army was well armed and supported by firearms, and the tribal leaders knew that this was a powerful force that they could not contend with, and the smartest thing they could do was to cooperate with the Ming army, rather than stand on the opposite side of the Ming army.

With such a level of understanding, the conversation that follows becomes harmonious. Xiao Ruxun briefly introduced the Ming army's plan to the Tatar leaders, that is, to transform the original Bibai camp into a city to serve as the residence of the Ming army, as well as the craftsmen and peasants who would come in the future. Daming will use this as the center to carry out production activities such as development and mining in the surrounding area.

"We've lived here for generations, and we've never heard of any mines, so what do you plan to mine here?" Mu Ren asked Xiao Ruxun in surprise. The Tatars themselves did not have the technology to mine, let alone such a thing as prospecting for minerals.

Xiao Ruxun said: "You don't have to worry about this matter, our Deputy General Su is a well-known geologist in my Ming Dynasty, who is good at prospecting and finding water sources. He said that he would be able to find coal and iron mines, and that we would build an iron smelting plant in the area. When the time comes, the general soldier will give each of your tribes a few hundred catties of the best iron. ”

"Thank you, Commander!" Everyone hurriedly thanked them again. There has always been a shortage of iron on the grassland, let alone making weapons, even iron pots, fire forks, etc., which are used daily, are extremely difficult to obtain. If Xiao Ruxun is willing to give them a few hundred catties of iron, it will be a big face.

"Mr. Xiao, you Han people always say that you don't get merit. We didn't do anything for Mr. Xiao, so why were we embarrassed to take Mr. Xiao's iron for nothing? In this way, Mr. Xiao wants to smelt iron. If there's anything you need us to help with, just ask, and we'll do our best. Has'ullah said it appropriately.

"Exactly!" The leaders echoed again, and they didn't know if Has'ullah's words were obtained from Xiao Ruxun's instructions, maybe Xiao Ruxun was waiting for them to make a statement, if they were not interested, maybe one day those terrible cannons would be aimed at their tribe.

Xiao Ruxun pretended to be embarrassed. said: "Everyone is so kind, if Xiao doesn't accept it." I'm afraid it's cold everyone's sincerity. If you accept it, you are afraid of causing trouble to everyone, which is really embarrassing for this general soldier. ”

When he said this, everyone couldn't have understood it in their hearts. What is difficult to live in is clearly to cover up. After thinking about this clearly, the courteous expression on their faces increased a little more, and they all said:

"Everyone is a family, what are you afraid of a little trouble. If there is anything that Mr. Xiao needs to do, just speak. ”

Xiao Ruxun said a few more polite words, and then said, "Okay." Since everyone sincerely wants to help Ben Zongbing, then Ben Zongbing will receive everyone's affection. Here's the thing, we're going to open mines, we're going to build cities, and we're going to have to transport a lot of materials. And everybody knows it. I am short of cattle and horses......"

"Mr. Xiao doesn't need to say it, we can just package this matter of transporting materials." Bayar took Xiao Ruxun's words and said in a big way, "We take herding as a business, and we don't dare to say anything else, there is no shortage of cattle and horses." No matter how many things there are, we can ship them. ”

"That's great." Xiao Ruxun said happily, "With your help, then our affairs will be much easier." However, Xiao Mou has a word first, everyone helps, Xiao Mou understands it, but this work, food and silver, everyone must accept it, who is polite not to accept it, Xiao Mou does not follow him. ”

"......" Everyone was speechless, hiring people to work needs to pay, this is the least common sense, Xiao Ruxun said this, as if he was giving everyone some gift. Alas, dealing with the Han people is really tiring, how can these Han people talk about something like this?

No matter what you think in your heart, what everyone has promised can only be done hard, and a large-scale transportation activity is launched.

As Bayar said, these steppe tribes have nothing else, cattle and horses. A dozen tribes easily scraped together a few thousand head of cattle and an equal number of pack horses, commanded by a group of skilled herdsmen, entered Helan Mountain, and began to help the Ming army in its work.

The first thing the Ming army did was to smooth the passage through the Da Gong Pass across Helan Mountain. Originally, this passage existed, but it was only a road trodden by people and horses in the valley, not to mention potholes, and in some places it was very narrow, which was not conducive to the passage of convoys. Xiao Ruxun accepted Su Hao's suggestion and organized people to widen and level the road, making it a regular road comparable to the post roads in the Ming Dynasty.

The amount of work to build the road is huge, but with a lot of animal power to drive it, the difficulty of the work is greatly reduced. Xiao Ruxun arranged for thousands of soldiers to be responsible for leveling the road, first smashing large stones on the road, and then filling the road with sand and soil from oxen and horses. Afterwards, hundreds of oxen dragged huge rollers back and forth on the road, until the road surface was as smooth as a mirror, and then they gave up.

In addition to building roads, building a city is also a large-scale undertaking. Xiao Ruxun built a fortress on the east and west sides of the Helan Mountain passage, the east of which was built on the original ruins of Dajikou, and the west was completely newly built, including a section of side wall and a watchtower, which strictly protected the passage in the mountain.

The camp of the Bibai tribe was transformed into a small city, which Xiao Ruxun called Helan Fort, ready to be used as a nail to pierce into the grassland. In a hurry, Xiao Ruxun certainly couldn't build a ring of walls around Helan Fort, so he ordered someone to make a fence out of wood and surround Helan Fort. At intervals, there was a turret made of stone and clay, with small cannons on top of it, guarded by soldiers armed with muskets. Such a city, if the Rabbit wants to attack, it must pay a heavy price.

The building materials used to build the castle were brought in by horses. Things such as lime still need to be transported from Ningxia Wei, and it is really unbearable without so many horses. Xiao Ruxun promised to pay the tribes, but he didn't come up with real money, but found some Ming goods to give to the tribes, which was supposed to be the cost of renting cattle and horses.

A large amount of mining equipment has also been transported from Ningxia City. After a period of exploration, Su Hao led people to identify several mining sites. The businessmen led by Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen had been waiting for this day for a long time, and after getting the news, they poured into the grassland and the surrounding mountains with miners and various equipment, and began to dig holes for mining.

Since mining on Tatar territory could be attacked by the Tatars at any time, each mine had its own defense system, and the merchants hired private soldiers to defend it. The equipment of the private soldiers completely refers to Xiao Ruxun's department, and in addition to various cold weapons, they are also equipped with a large number of firearms such as flintlock pistols and artillery.

At Su Hao's suggestion, a pillbox was built in the center of each mining area, which was used to protect the workers and stewards of the mining area in the event of a Tatar invasion. Everyone hid in the pillbox, resisted with muskets and artillery, which could last for several days, waiting for the Ming army to come and relieve the siege.

The military households of Tuntian in Weili, Ningxia were also transferred, and they established a number of tuntian points around the perimeter of Helan Fort. Because winter was approaching, they did not rush to open up the wasteland, but built a batch of greenhouses and planted vegetables as they had done in Pingyu City in the past. There has always been a shortage of vegetables in the grasslands, and it is even worse in winter. In addition to providing vegetables to the garrison of Helan Fort, these greenhouses built by the military households also served the function of providing vegetables to various Tatar tribes. Relying on these vegetables, the Ming army was able to exchange beef and mutton and dairy products from the Tatar herders, and was able to make the Tatar tribes surrender even more desperately.

While busy with construction, Xiao Ruxun never gave up his vigilance. He knew that the defeat of Bibai was only a prelude to entering the grasslands, and that stronger enemies were yet to come. He arranged for a large number of scouts to patrol the grasslands, monitor the movements of several large tribes, and also inquire about the whereabouts of Bibai.

A few months passed in a hurry, and the fortresses on both sides of the Helan Mountain passage had been repaired, and Xiao Ruxun sent soldiers to defend it, which was equivalent to pushing the defense line forward a big step. The renovation of Helan City has also been completed, and the tents in the original camp have been replaced with adobe houses, which look like some Central Plains cities.

Xiao Ruxun, as the chief soldier of Ningxia, of course, could not stay outside the side wall all day. After conquering the surrounding tribes, he returned to Ningxia City. Su Hao didn't have any ready-made official duties, so he simply stayed in the newly built Helan City and guided everyone's work. Seeing that various undertakings are thriving, Su Hao also has a sense of relief.

On this day, several mine owners came from the mining area to discuss some things about mining with Su Hao in the temporary general military mansion. A fast horse galloped into Helan City and went straight to the front of the General Soldier's Mansion. The rider turned over and dismounted, strode to the lobby, and reported in a loud voice: "Report to the deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Union, there is an urgent military situation!" ”

"Oh?" Su Hao and several mine owners were stunned. The mine owners looked at each other and said goodbye to Su Hao in unison, and Su Hao asked the scout who reported the news, "What is so panicked?" ”

"Report to the deputy commander-in-chief of the Soviet Union, the last general has just heard the news, and the Tu and Bu Lost Rabbit have joined forces, with a strength of 100,000 troops, and they have already driven in our direction." The scout replied.

"100,000?" Su Hao scratched his head, "These two rabbits are crazy, they brought 100,000 people to invade my worthless Helan Fort in the winter, what do they want?" Come! ”

"In!" A soldier who was waiting next to him came out of the line.

"Go and invite Deng Zhongjun, Xu Qian, and Zhang Qian,...... and Mr. Lin, let's go to the General Military Mansion to discuss matters. Su Hao commanded.