Wu Shigong attaches great importance to his first independent leader, and he is also cautious and vigilant on the way to escort salt goods. But as we walked through the bandit-ridden mountains, nothing happened.

It's not that those bandits didn't find Wu Shigong and his party. It's just that when those bandits who blocked the road found Wu Shigong's army escorting the salt goods, especially when Wu Shigong personally led the escort, they immediately dispersed.

It was only later that a few bold bandits begged Wu Shigong and his party to reward them with some salt, Lu Yunhuan and Lu Jianchen threw one or two bags of salt to them, and those bandits happily took the salt and left. This made Wu Shigong feel very awkward, these bandits didn't look like bandits at all, as if they were some so-called sons.

In this way, nearly ten stones of salt were delivered, and Wu Shigong and his party arrived at their destination safely. And the journey back was even smoother.

After being escorted a few times, Wu Shigong found that those bandits really didn't dare to provoke him. Wu Shigong simply took this kind of escort task and let his various leaders take turns to lead the command. In addition, Wu Shigong also arranged for the escorted soldiers, and during the escort journey, they carried out some training on marching and camping by the way.

And Yang Goudan used those copper blocks to create a cannon. But because in the past, including Yang Goudan, no one could build artillery at all, so this artillery was built like an enlarged firecracker. However, after Liang Hui and they tried the artillery, they were able to hit it well, just because the caliber of the cannon was relatively small, that is, the size of a one-pound gun, and the power was not great.

However, Wu Shigong is already very satisfied, at least his own craftsmen can also make artillery. Wu Shigong asked the craftsmen to design a gun carriage with wheels and fix the gun on the gun carriage. Now you can just pull this cannon with your own army.

Wu Shigong also had no financial resources and materials to make new artillery. He was only able to get these craftsmen to continue to make four gun mounts, and installed the two Tiger Squat cannons and two Franc cannons he had brought from the capital to the gun carriages.

At this time, Wu Shigong also fixed the staffing of the escort caravan. For each convoy, a squadron of fifty men of horses and two squadrons, of two hundred infantry, were dispatched, accompanied by a cannon.

With the development of the escort business, Wu Shigong's income in this business has gradually fixed, reaching about 500 taels of silver per month. In addition, as the situation in the counties of Runing Province gradually stabilized, and those who fled because of the rebellion of the Holy Spirit gradually returned to their homes, the demand for salt goods in these counties gradually increased. Therefore, Wu Shigong's income has increased month by month.

Seeing this situation, Wu Shigong couldn't help but laugh at himself a little in his heart: "Others will either open their golden fingers; or occupy places where there are salt farms to sell illicit salt; Either in the coastal areas, shipbuilding and smuggling are engaged in maritime trade, so silver has never been a problem. And now I'm doing the dart game, which is really a shame for the traversers! ”

However, this kind of escort made Wu Shigong's army start the training of marching and camping, although the distance of these marches was not long, at most five or six days, but Wu Shigong and Xue Yongli found that their army had many problems in the process of marching and camping. After repeated training and exchange and study, Wu Shigong's army's marching and camping level was greatly improved.

In addition, the reconnaissance squadron led by Zhang Biao and Li Sanhe, who accompanied the escort team, also basically observed the nearby terrain and produced military maps of several nearby counties.

And Zheng Zhen has also returned from the capital. He brought back more than 70 horses, nearly 200 sets of harnesses, and a number of spear heads and waist knives. These were all sent to Wu Shigong by his father Wu Weizhong and eldest brother Wu Shixun.

The value of these things is already slightly greater than the silver that Wu Shigong paid for the fifth brother Wu Shiwen to reinstate as the county commander. However, it is also conceivable that Daddy Wu Weizhong will definitely not touch out his own money, and he must use his authority to pretend to be public and private.

In addition, father Wu Weizhong and eldest brother Wu Shixun also wrote letters to Wu Shigong. In the letter, they all praised Wu Shigong's approach of caring for brotherhood. and also took care of Wu Shigong, telling him to take care of his body, as long as there is a suitable opportunity, they will also find a way to let Wu Shigong be transferred back to the capital.

Although the ideas of father Wu Weizhong and eldest brother Wu Shixun are not different from Wu Shigong's own ideas, Wu Shigong is still very relieved that his son, who "got married", was finally accepted by his own family again.

And Wu Shigong remembered that he bought the shop in Guide Mansion City from Yuan Xingshan. Wu Shigong sent someone to inquire. As expected, the shop had been occupied by Hou Sui's family.

So, Wu Shigong sent someone to send a letter to Hou Sui, in which of course, he only wrote some words of admiration for Hou Sui. However, in the letter, Wu Shigong also sandwiched the title deed and the deed of the shop, and wanted to give the shop to the Hou family completely.

Now Wu Shigong also knows how high the status of Hou Sui, a resigned Jinshi at home, is. From the position where Hou Sui could walk in front of the Guide Mansion at that time, you can see his status. Therefore, Wu Shigong didn't want to offend Hou Sui at all.

Unexpectedly, after receiving Wu Shigong's letter, Hou Sui replied to Wu Shigong with a letter. In the letter, Hou Sui was also very polite to Wu Shigong. and also said to Wu Shigong: The previous ones were all misunderstandings, and the shop Hou Sui will also be returned to Wu Shigong.

Hou Sui's approach, in addition to his still having some thief thoughts about Wu Shigong, the main reason is that Hou Sui wants to entrap Wu Shigong.

We can see that like the governor of Henan, Gonggong Xiao and Hou Sui of Henan, they all made some moves to entrap Wu Shigong. The main reason why they did this was because they all saw Wu Shigong's merits this time, and they also affirmed Wu Shigong's ability.

And for those of them who are in high positions, there are not only slaves and sycophants who are submissive, but also some little tigers who are resolute and resolute. Of course, this little tiger can also make a sycophant, then it is the most perfect.

This can't help but make the author sigh a little: so many capable people in modern times are unwilling to let go of their bodies for the sake of face. If they have a slightly sweeter mouth on their boss, they may go up a level and be able to give full play to their abilities!

After Wu Shigong received Hou Sui's reply, he was flattered. Hurriedly sent a letter to Hou Sui and resolutely resigned. Anyway, the two sides pushed over and over, zuihou, Hou Sui still handed over the shop to Wu Shigong. And Wu Shigong opened a business inn in this shop and gave fifty percent of the dry shares to Hou Sui.

In this way, Wu Shigong had a foothold in Guide Mansion City, and was able to get the protection of the Hou family, the top family in Guide Mansion. The trade of his own caravans also went up to the next level.

And in this shop, Wu Shigong even started Zhao Ruya's fat powder business, and Wu Shigong used some surplus women among the domestic slaves to open a fat powder workshop under the guidance of Zhao Ruya.

Although the business here in Guide Mansion City is far less prosperous than the business in the capital, at least there is some income, and it can barely cope with the expenses in the inner house.

During this time, Wu Shigong was a big workshop. First of all, he set up a textile workshop on the basis of the quilt workshop. Silk and cotton are not produced here in Guide Province, and the jishu of this textile workshop is also very backward. Therefore, this textile workshop can only produce some coarse cloth, and the cost is relatively high. Therefore, the areas where these coarse fabrics can be sold are the neighboring counties. If it's too far, it won't sell at all.

However, thanks to this textile workshop, Wu Shigong's own supply of clothing fabrics for these soldiers has been solved. Besides, Wu Shigong can also send these coarse cloths as military salaries. Because in the Ming Dynasty, cloth could indeed be used as currency in many cases.

The other one established by Wu Shigong is a poultry and livestock farm. Wu Shigong relied on the poultry and livestock he had seized, bought some breeding pigs and sheep, and used the old, weak, women, and children among the domestic slaves to carry out breeding on a large scale.

And because on the hill behind Wu Shigong's fortress of Qianhusuo, there was no shortage of pigweed and grass, and Wu Shigong only needed to mobilize people to harvest. So now, Wu Shigong's poultry and livestock can not only meet their own needs, but also take out some of them and sell them in the market. There are some incomes, too.

More importantly, because Wu Shigong's breeding industry was carried out relatively well, the food standard of his soldiers was greatly improved.

When Wu Shigong first arrived at the fortress of Qianhusuo, in addition to the guards he brought from the capital, the soldiers recruited by Wu Shigong in the local area were basically covered with skin and bones because of long-term malnutrition. It simply cannot withstand high-intensity military training.

There are also soldiers who have night blindness because of their unbalanced nutritional intake, and they can't walk at night at all. And now, because Wu Shigong has made them full for a long time, and has increased their nutrition with meat, the physical fitness of the soldiers has been greatly improved. It is no exaggeration to say that the physical fitness of the soldiers under Wu Shigong has completely reached the level of the first-class elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

Wu Shigong also used the trees on the hills behind the fortress of Qianhusu to set up a charcoal workshop. In addition, he also discovered a small coal (i.e. coal) mine on this hill, so this also gave him some profit.

In this way, in October, Wu Shigong finally reached a break-even, which made Wu Shigong greatly relieved. I've finally got a foothold here.

And that's not all that makes Wu Shigong happy. Because of Wu Shigong's great water conservancy project, and his large number of livestock to transport water, coupled with the good climate in the second half of the year, during the autumn harvest, Wu Shigong's fields have a bumper harvest, which makes Wu Shigong's thousand households in the fortress, the reserve of grain suddenly reached more than 16,000 stones.

At this moment, Wu Shigong was completely relieved. This is really - there is food in the hand, and there is no panic in the heart!