On the twenty-first day of the first lunar month, the mountains and rivers of Xuanfu were frozen, and a caravan on horseback slowly approached Zhangjiakou Fort with bells, and the curtain of one of the carriages was opened, revealing Zhang Dong's heavy face.

This is the second time he has come to Zhangjiakou, and this time he will be accompanied by people from the Department of Foreign Affairs, who will contact a large merchant named Tang Hongchang here, according to the inquiry of the intelligence station here, this company is familiar with Tumut, but does not trade directly with Jiannu, which is relatively credible. Moreover, this person is full of shops in Shanxi, and has frequent transactions with the Sihai trading company, and once helped Denglai recruit the Shanxi border army at night, and has a good relationship with the trading company, so he is an ideal middleman.

This time they still went to Beijing first, after reading the recent information summarized by Zhang Dahui, they went to Juyong Pass to Shanxi, and there were traces of Jiannu's last entry into the Kou along the way after passing Huailai, although the Houjin soldiers only hurried through last time, but the sentinel horse arrived far-reaching, many villages were burned down by them, and the ruins still remained.

Shanxi is the frontier of the Ming Dynasty, there are three of the nine military towns in Shanxi, namely Shanxi, Xuanfu, Datong, responsible for the important direction of the Mongolian war, covering the flank of the Beijing division, the people of the time called the Beijing division the heart, and Xuanda is the back, it can be seen that its importance, the Ming Dynasty also had many heavy battles here.

Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang guarded the border, the border defense continued to face each other, occupying the north of the Great Wall of Dongsheng, Xinghe, Kaiping, Yulin, Daning and other military towns, the early guard was extremely powerful, forming a solid defensive depth, forming a strong military pressure on the remnant Yuan, and the Xuanda area was in the second line of security.

After Zhu Dijing seized the throne, he moved the capital to the north, and dealt a heavy blow to the Mongols through battles such as ploughing and sweeping caves. Although Zhu Di maintained an offensive posture, he gave up the three guards of Duoyan, Taining, and Fuyu in defense, and gave the place to Wuliangha Mongolia, and later gave up Dongsheng, Xinghe, etc., and almost all the areas north of the Great Wall occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang were abandoned, so that the border passes lost the cover of these buffer zones.

Hongxi and Xuande pursued a passive defense policy, the border defense was further contracted, Kaipingwei was also abandoned, the previous Daning, Xuanda, Liaodong Dingfu mutual aid situation was completely broken, the entire Xuanfu and Datong became the front line, and led to the later change of the civil fort, the change of the civil fort has many accidental factors, but the fundamental reason lies in the imbalance of the northern defense line.

But as the northern frontier of the important place, the Ming Dynasty still attaches great importance to the operation of Xuanda, it relies on the two Great Walls inside and outside the formation of the system is relatively complete, the whole defense system by the town, the acropolis, the military fort, the fire road pier, the water horse station, the express shop is composed, all kinds of troops are deployed in it, to point into a line, to line into a network, forming a strict military layout.

Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, these armies were as rotten as other places, and the last time Jiannu was weak, there was no Xuanda army to launch a large-scale battle, and no matter how good the design and system were, it was in vain, and the troops in these fortresses did not dare to attack in the field, and the fortress could only defend the fortress itself, and it lost the true meaning of the fortress.

Zhang Dong looked at the scene on the side of the road, while recalling the intelligence bureau's summary analysis of Xuanda, which believed that Jiannu would definitely enter Kou Xuanda again, from the consistent style of Jiannu, fighting is to grab things, Jinzhou in western Liaoning is stable, which has stored grain for as many as two years, with the current situation of Jiannu, it can't be consumed even if you fight hard, Jizhen was looted by them four years ago, and now the population and wealth have not recovered, and Jiannu will not know. The Xuanda road is not much farther than Jizhen, the last entrance was not deep, and the looting is still very promising, and Tumut is subject to Houjin, which can provide logistical and intelligence support for the operation of the army.

This report was also given to the trading company, Zhou Laifu finally decided to set up only in Xuanfu and Datong Town, the local network was not spread, Zhangjiakou here is complicated, the trading company has only one office for the time being, accept orders from each family, and then the Xuanfu will transport the goods to the past, and not directly inventory in Zhangjiakou.

But this report was issued last year, when the battle of Lushun had not yet begun, Zhang Dong guessed in his heart that Houjin fought hard in the north of Lushun last year, and now Dengzhou Town is located in southern Liaoning, and Huang Taiji only retains a small number of outposts in Fuzhou, as long as the Chūn is opened, Dengzhou will launch a new round of offensive, Houjin will not be able to gain a foothold in Fuzhou, and then the entire south of Gaizhou will be a war zone, as long as Dongjiang Town is contained in the east, Houjin will have to continue to give up Xiuyan and other places, so he thinks that Houjin has no chance to come to Xuanda again.

But Shanxi's defense was worse than he imagined, the military households here were poorer than Shandong's, most of them were skinny, many of them even wore single clothes in winter, and children played in the snow with their bare buttocks, and their eyes were almost numb, like a lifeless humanoid object.

At this time, a few miles away from Zhangjiakou Fort City, there were scattered shops on the roadside, and the shopkeepers saw that there was a team of cars and horses coming, so they shouted on the roadside, asking them whether they were collecting goods from the north or from the south.

There were two guys, and they also came to the side of the carriage curtain and asked Zhang Dong loudly: "If the guest has Guangzhou Railway, our store will receive the goods at a high price, and it will definitely be one percent higher than others......

Zhang Dong glanced at them coldly, and the two guys hurriedly dodged with a shudder, and then came to the carriage behind to pester the Director Jiang of the Foreign Affairs Department.

A few dart board to go up, drive the two guys away, two of the horses to the two sides of Zhang Dong's carriage, to prevent someone from coming up to entangle, the group slowly walked to the south gate, there is a small shop of the Four Seas Trading Company, only buy some retail southern goods and cigarettes, the shopkeeper inside looked at Zhang Dong, he quickly put down the matter at hand, came over and muttered to Zhang Dong for a while, and then led Zhang Dong and others into the city.

This shopkeeper is very familiar with the gatekeeper soldiers, no one only paid five cents to enter the city, the soldiers saw that it was a copper coin from Dengzhou, and quickly received it in his arms, this kind of copper coin system zuòjīng is beautiful, the copper content is guaranteed, compared to those private money is much more effective, in some places in Shanxi is already two or three hundred wen for one or two silver.

When they entered the city and reached the center of the city, and then went east, the street was crowded with people, and it was still bustling in winter, and most of the people were not dressed in clothes, and the carriages and horses were very richly decorated, and among them there were many ragged laborers and households, and the contrast was very strong.

The shopkeeper led them to the door of a large shop, Zhang Dong looked up, and the shop sign hanging outside the shop read "Xindesheng".

The shopkeeper of the business went in and talked to the people inside for a while, and after a while, he beckoned a few people in, the shop was a pawnshop, and after passing through the back door was a courtyard, and there were a few people in the courtyard who looked like they were doing business, Zhang Dong knew that they were watching the pawnshop to prevent anyone from making trouble, but he was still used to observing the height of the fence and the location of the back door, as well as the trees that could be used to escape.

After entering another door, the leader took them to a study, where a middle-aged man with a long beard and a slight fat man stood at the door happily and said to a few people: "The distinguished guests have come from afar, and they have not been greeted from afar, it is really Tang's poor reception, forgive me." ”

The shopkeeper of the trading company introduced to Zhang Dong: "This is Tang Dongjia, the name of Xindesheng, and he is also the chief shopkeeper. ”

Zhang Dong and Director Jiang didn't dare to say anything, then Tang Hongchang treated people decently, and invited Zhang Dong and the three of them into the house, but the shopkeeper of the trading company took the opportunity to leave, this was discussed by Director Jiang and him, and it was inconvenient for too many people to hear about the things they wanted to discuss, especially when this shopkeeper was alone in such a far away, and the people he came into contact with were complicated, and he would make a mistake if he said that he missed his mouth.

After Director Jiang waited for Tang Hongchang to retreat, he said to Tang Hongchang: "What did I do when I came to Zhangjiakou Fort with Brother Zhang, presumably Shopkeeper Tang already knew from the last messenger, and this time Lord Chen sent us here to complete the matter of contacting Tumote, and I will also disturb Shopkeeper Tang here." ”

Tang Hongchang bowed slightly, "It is the blessing of the villain to be able to do something small for Lord Chen, the general soldier of Dengzhou Town Chen is famous all over the world, who doesn't praise a good man when he hears it, although the villain does some business with the Tartars, he never sells the things that Dongnu wants." ”

Zhang Dong asked casually: "The shopkeeper of Tang is so good, you can also sue the shopkeeper of Tang, Jiannu was killed by me in Dengzhou Town last year by more than 20,000 people in Lushun, it is the end of the crossbow, and those who are still smuggling nitrate and ammunition for Jiannu are always going to be liquidated, and no matter how much they earn, they can't keep it for themselves, and this matter can be packed in the next place." ”

Tang Hongchang looked at Zhang Dong carefully for a while, nodded with a smile, and said: "What Brother Zhang said, Tang naturally believes it, but now that Chahar is fleeing west, Tumut still has to listen to Jiannu on the surface, so we always have to be secretive about this matter." ”

Director Jiang hesitated and asked: "I will naturally not publicize this matter, only the shopkeeper Tang knows, when the shopkeeper Tang sends someone to contact Tumut, please find a safe person." ”

"Master Jiang doesn't need to worry, although Tang is not talented, but there are still a few dead soldiers under his command, this news is inconvenient, the two of them have to stay in Zhangjiakou for a while, what Tang just meant is that when the two of them are in Zhangjiakou, they should be careful when they talk, so as not to be heard, there are people like Tang who don't do business with Jiannu, but there are more people who do business with Jiannu."

Zhang Dong looked up at Tang Hongchang slightly, "Many families in Zhangjiakou do business with them?" How much can I earn? ”

Brother Zhang asked, Tang also told the two of them, the most profitable is salt, iron, cotton, tobacco, among which the iron tools sold to the Mongolians are Lu iron, can not be made into weapons, but the eight sell more Guangzhou iron, can be changed into blades, the eight more made, is to sell Su Gang directly. In previous years, the salt was sold to the Mongolians, this year I heard that Jiannu also bought, cotton cloth has both Jiangnan Songjiang cloth, there are also cloth in Luzhou and other places, Jiannu Mongolian people will not be cardinal, if Xuanfu does not sell cloth in the past, Jiannu will have short clothes, smoke, is the Wendengxiang of your town, this thing is expensive in Mongolia, as long as they break for a few days, a pack of cigarettes for a sheep is also there. Zhangjiakou and Jiannu business to do the largest, is Fan, Wang, Jin, Wang, Liang, Tian, Zhai, Huang these eight, to help them receive the goods of the small shop pù countless, Zhangjiakou every year to exchange millions of taels of silver, how many of the benefits, not everyone wants to Jiannu was defeated by Dengzhou Town, Jiannu the year before last broke Chahar, in the naturalization of no food and no pay, into Xuanda to loot, they out of the front foot, back foot there are people outside Zhangjiakou Fort with silver to buy commercial goods, where did these silver come from, the two must know, That's why Tang told the two of them that it was better to be secretive. ”

Zhang Dong sneered: "It's clear to say this, but there is still something unclear below, since it is so profitable, why can these families get on the road with Jiannu, but the others cannot?" ”

Tang Hongchang leaned forward slightly, looked at the two of them and said, "Then it is necessary to say that these eight families are shameless, and it is more important for them...... Courageous, they not only smuggled sulfur, Suzhou steel, and armaments, but also relied on trading companies all over the country to inquire about the military situation, Xuanda Shanxi soldiers and horses, I am afraid that they are all in the hands of the slave chiefs, all the credit of these eight families, and finally ......" Tang Hongchang stretched out a hand, "They even gave the slave merchant goods on credit, just like usury." ”

Zhang Dong nodded and did not speak again.

Director Jiang next to him saw that Zhang Dong had finished asking, so he cleared his throat and was about to talk about those Mongolian prisoners, when a burst of trumpets and drums suddenly sounded outside, and the crowd outside the wall also shouted in panic.

Director Jiang stood up in a panic, Tang Hongchang bowed his hand to Director Jiang, and walked outside the door to let a green hand inquire. Then he turned back to Principal Jiang and said: "Don't worry, don't worry, whether it's Mongolia, Jiannu, or the official army, no one should come to attack Zhangjiakou, and if you do, it's all bad for your own wealth." ”

Zhang Dong sat quietly in his seat, his hands in a position convenient for lifting off his robe, a short hammer on each side of his legs, and a dagger on his waist, which was on alert at all times.

After waiting for about half an hour, the green hand finally came back, and he said to Tang Hongchang with some breath: "Go back to the east house, yes, it is Jiannu who is here, and in the morning I broke through the two roads from Longmen Wei and Shanfangbao, I don't know whether to go to Xuanfu or come to Zhangjiakou Fort." ”

Zhang Dong's brows furrowed tightly. (To be continued.) )