Li Xin has a lot of more than a dozen carts of goods and goods, Xia Dushi remembers that he obviously didn't open his mouth to ask for money, how did he give such a heavy gift, this is not just as simple as Cheng Yi. Just stunned for a moment, Xia Dushi regained his calm, he is not a hypocritical person, since Li Xin is so sincere in sending money, in addition to thanking Bumin, he decided to return him a favor.

"Boxing is full of enthusiasm Xia Mou, if there is anything difficult to solve, Li Zongbing may wish to tell me directly."

Li Xin found some clues in the drunken talk of Xia Du last night, there must be someone in the Shanxi Xingdu Division who colluded with the Jin merchants, and he revealed it last night by being drunk. Li Xin couldn't figure out the purpose of this for the time being, but one thing could still be confirmed, that is, he had a trace of sympathy for the Zhen Guard.

These dozen carts of goods were actually wanted to be exchanged for something important to the town guards.

"Zhenyuwei is really in trouble and needs Xia Dushi's help."

Xia Dushi laughed and said generously: "The chief soldier said bluntly, although Xia is a humble position, he can still say something in the Dusi Mansion. ”

Li Xin and Xia Dushi openly talked about the conditions, which shocked Qian Tai on the side, Xia Dushi and Li Xin's style was obviously inconsistent with their usual style. Xia Du is greedy for money and profit, and his eyes are above the top, when he is so kind and polite to people. That Li Xin is also stingy and tight on weekdays, and he is quite square, how can he make a move today is more than a dozen carts of goods, and it is used for gifts.

Qian Taigan glared, but he couldn't say a word, not that he didn't have a chance, but that he was too far away. Li Xin deliberately pulled Xia Dushi down to a secluded place away from the crowd, and first solemnly waved his hand.

"Li Xin did have an invitation, but not for me personally, but for the entire town guard."

Xia Dushi still listened with a smile, and couldn't see any changes in his expression.

"The town guards the border wall, facing the threat of Tartars on the outside, and horse thieves on the inside. Therefore, Li Xin was ready to set up a musket team, but the Zhenwei did not produce gunpowder and had no inventory, so he also asked Xia Du to take care of the matter, so he could buy everything. ”

Xia Du burst into laughter again after hearing this.

"What's the matter, isn't it black powder, Xia is supervising the logistics materials, but it may not be easy to allocate them directly to you, but it is easy to rotate the materials." He paused for a moment and seemed to think simply, "It's better to be like this, don't go empty when you come back with a dozen big cars, come back and pull gunpowder, as for the rotating goods, I will make a list, and you will send it later!" ”

Li Xin was overjoyed when he heard this, and there were a lot of gunpowder in more than a dozen carts, so that it should not be a problem for the last three or four months, and he hurriedly thanked him.

As soon as Xia Du handed over the matter, "This matter will be handed over to Xia, let's say goodbye." He was very anxious, and after finalizing the matter of black powder, he was not willing to delay for a moment, and led people out of the south gate one after another, and went straight to Datong Mansion.

Li Xin had been worried about gunpowder before, and the guards didn't have any gunpowder inventory, and this kind of thing was controlled by the imperial court, so it would definitely not be possible to get it without a way. Who would have thought that this summer capital seemed to be here to provoke the autumn wind, but he responded to a request for help.

In addition to the flank cooperation of the cavalry, the phalanx infantry of the new army needs the fire support of artillery, and only with artillery, the phalanx infantry dominated by spears can have long-range strike and deterrence capabilities, so as to give full play to its advantages as much as possible.

Qian Tai felt that Li Xin's more than a dozen carts of goods must have been given away in vain, and it was not for nothing that Xia Dushi dared to be so arrogant in the Shanxi Xingdu Division with just a few Qipin officials, and his backstage was the same acquaintance of the Xingdu Division, and now he was very hopeful of becoming a commander again. This bureaucrat is a confidant and dignitary, although the official position is low, but it is equivalent to the prime minister's third-rank official, and his actual status is definitely not low.

Seeing that Xia Du had left the south gate, Li Xin hurried to the ironwork again, and the old ironworker had re-recruited more than ten apprentices at this time, and more than a dozen people were in full swing and steaming. Even on this cold day, he was covered in sweat, and he kept wheeling the sledgehammer in his hand bare-chested.

When the old ironworker saw that it was Li Xin, his face was excited and respectful, and he hurriedly saluted. Li Xin dragged him down, "Old man, I'm here to ask you again!" ”

"How dare you talk about asking for advice, even if the chief soldier commands, the little old man will fight for his life and catch up with the progress."

Li Xin saw that the old ironworker misunderstood what he meant, so he got straight to the point.

"The old man might make an iron cannon?"

The old ironsmith's eyes narrowed, as if remembering something.

"Yes, yes, it's just that I haven't done it for many years, and it's really raw." He said very cautiously, as if he had any concerns, Li Xin couldn't understand it, so he asked, "Does the old man have concerns?" ”

The old ironsmith turned his right hand upside down, and waved his left hand.

"It's not a concern, it's a technical problem, it's easy to make an iron cannon, it's hard not to blow it up, when Xiao Lao'er was in Datong Mansion to build a craftsman, he was responsible for this fire gun, ....... or a matter of Wanli years, that year, the fire gun and the artillery exploded one after another, and killed a general. The Dusi Mansion was furious, so he sent the little old man to this town to guard, and he lived for decades. ”

I can't see it, this old ironworker is also a person with a story, and it doesn't matter if he blows up the chamber or anything, and Li Xin judges that nine times out of ten the explosion incident is caused by an excessive charge caused by non-standard operation. As long as the charge is controlled, this kind of accident can be completely avoided, and the old ironworker just can't get over this hurdle in his heart.

"The elderly don't have to worry, they can build two doors for experimentation, and once it is proved that there is no problem, it is not too late to produce them on a large scale."

The old ironworker was shocked by Li Xin's words, it would be good to have three iron cannons on the scale of the town guard, and it would be mass-produced, what would it be used for? But since the chief soldier has spoken, he can only do his best.

Just as Li Xin was discussing with the old blacksmith in the city's ironworks how to make the iron cannon, outside the deserted north gate of the town guard, a rope went down the wall, and then a fat body slid straight down.

I saw that this person was wearing a hat with furry eyelids on his head, and his whole body was tightly wrapped, revealing only a pair of eyes with a strange look, which was actually the great monk Jiexiu. How can this goods be put at the gate and not walk, but they have to slide down the city with a rope?

Jiexiu has his own reasons, he is now in charge of the intelligence of the entire town guard, in this kind of lack of personnel, he will inevitably go into battle in person, so it is definitely not appropriate for too many people to recognize his face, so he made this decision. This time he secretly went out of the city under Li Xin's military order, and went out of the border wall from Baiyangkou, and the task was to find out the horse thief camp that attacked the town guards last time. He could see from Li Xin's determined gaze that this time he would send troops to wipe him out no matter what.

Jiexiu raised his hands and feet to support this decision, because only in this way can he give a warning to the surrounding Xiaoxiao that if he touches the bottom line of the General Military Mansion, no one will have good fruit to eat. There is nothing to say all the way, out of the mouth of the white sheep is a white expanse, if it is summer at this time, it is a green sea of waves. Jiexiu was not in the mood to enjoy the beautiful scenery in front of him, this time he disguised himself as a merchant, the sky was gloomy and scary, and it looked like a snowstorm, and if he didn't find his target before dark, he would probably be trapped by the snowstorm.

When the time comes, Li Xin's plan will be delayed, and he will be in danger of freezing to death at any time, which is not the result he wants. Only hurry up and exert force under your feet. Before he came, Jiexiu had already learned a news through various channels in Guò, it was said that a camp had been set up between the Dongyang River and the Xiyang River, and his whereabouts were unknown, so he judged that it was likely to be this horse thief.

Heading north past the mouth of the tile kiln, Jiexiu could find a long line of traces of horses' hooves in the already hardened snow, apparently left by a team of horses. This was an extremely important clue, so he followed the horse's hoof trail all the way north, until it was already dark, and he still did not find half of the horse thief. Just when he was almost desperate, a frozen low-lying river valley loomed out and lit a fire. Jiexiu was shocked suddenly, and in the end, the emperor lived up to his heart and let him gain something. So, he cautiously rushed towards the source of the fire.

On the twentieth day of the first month, Lu Jiu, who had been sitting in Zuo Qianhu, rushed back to the Zhenyuwei Acropolis with the cavalry, and he received a notice that the cavalry needed to cooperate with the Zhenyuwei New Army to carry out a mission outside the border wall. Of course, it is also to train them in the coordination of infantry combat.

The 500 town captives lined up in five columns of 100 people as they did during training, and under the rhythmic trumpet of the officers, they walked out of the south gate with a fairly neat pace, turned a corner, and went straight to the north.

Their guide covered his face and exchanged views with Li Xin in a low voice from time to time. Lu Jiu looked strange, and when he got closer, he realized that this strangely dressed guy turned out to be Mage Jiexiu. But looking at him, he didn't seem to want people to recognize him, so he didn't come forward to say hello, but pretended not to know him.

After a day and a night of heavy snowfall, all traces of the previous day had been buried, and they could only move in a straight line to the north, half by instinct, half by direction. It is believed that due to the heavy snowfall, the bandits' camp will definitely not be withdrawn.

In order to achieve the suddenness of the tactical assault, Li Xin has always maintained a state of high-speed marching. Unexpectedly, there were unforeseen storms in the sky, and suddenly the wind was fierce, and the goose feather-like snow flakes flew and fell with the wind all over the sky.

Lu Jiu snorted and scolded: "Thief God, it's a disadvantage again!" ”

The thief seemed to sense that Lu Jiu was scolding him, and suddenly there was the sound of horses' hooves slamming the ground in the distance, and through the blurred snow curtain, he saw that the black was moving rapidly.

It's cavalry!

"The column will be horizontal, fast, fast, fast!"

"Line up, spears in place!"

These are all subjects that are trained on weekdays, and the new army of Zhenyu is quite proficient in doing it. In a moment, a hedgehog-like phalanx suddenly stood in the wind and snow, waiting for an unknown enemy!