Of course, Zuo Houde is not short of money at all, and the twelve families still have to give Zuo Houde 200,000 taels every year, and Zuo Houde also accounted for 10% of the shares when he cooperated with them before, which made Zuo Houde not short of money.

Of course, this year's merchants, these twelve are not honest at all, under the protection of the entire Dingcheng military, not only the new business houses make money, but each of these twelve business houses makes no less money.

If it is said that a year ago, Zuo Houde had the idea of mastering military power because of the confrontation between the north and the south of Dayan and the Ming Dynasty, and he could not see the future clearly, and Hong Zaixing's rewards and punishments were uneven.

A year later, Zuo Houde had built Dingcheng like an iron pass, and at the same time controlled the military and political power of Dingcheng, and Zuo Houde's thoughts changed again.

Now Zuo Houde's ambition is a little stronger, Zuo Houde just wants to say, "The prince will have a kind of Xiangning?" ”

Qin lost his deer, the world chased together, the position of the Ninety-Five Emperor, he sat on Hong Zaixing, can't I sit on Zuo Houde?

Of course, Zuo Houde still remembers the nine-character mantra in his previous life, building a high wall, accumulating grain, and slowly becoming the king. What Zuo Houde has to do now is to hide his ambitions and at the same time accumulate his strength.

Although Zuo Houde dared to say that he had controlled the 50,000 military horses in Dingcheng, Zuo Houde knew that it was not realistic at all to ask these people to accompany him to rebel, after all, he had no hope of winning at all.

What Zuo Houde wants to do most now is to expand the army, of course, to expand his own private army. Zuo Houde's most important idea now is to build a private army of his own in a suitable way.

Zuo Houde didn't think of a suitable method, the first method was to recruit caretakers for his own firm, and his firm recruited hundreds of thugs, which was completely reasonable, but the number of people was completely out of Zuo Houde's mind.

The second way is to satisfy your own requirements - thieves.

This Dingcheng is a fortress in the north and south, with prosperous commerce, and at the same time, there are naturally thieves breeding, even if it is a hundred miles from Dingcheng, there are no less than dozens of thieves known to Zuo Houde.

These thieves often occupy high mountains and mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the number of more than 100 people, the number of people even thousands, if Zuo Houde can occupy these places and raise his own private army, even if it is to raise an army of 100,000 horses, it is not impossible!

The method that Zuo Houde thought of was to raise his private army in the mountains, and he could pretend to be a thief at ordinary times, but he was the guard of Dingcheng, and he was wiped out without shooting at all.

Of course, this matter has to be discussed in the long run, after all, this is not a trivial matter, and Zuo Houde still has to think about who is better to hand over this matter to.

……

Zuo Houde thought about it and still felt that it was most appropriate to hand over this matter to his own subordinates, after all, these subordinates were originally his own private army, especially the subordinates recruited by Zuo Houde in Dingcheng were originally depressed people, and Zuo Houde gave them enough benefits.

In addition, their origins are all in Dingcheng, and their families are also here, Zuo Houde can control them.

Zuo Houde recruited Gao Ming and Yao Ping, these two are the leaders of Zuo Houde's personal guards, Yao Ping is generally busy with business affairs, but Gao Ming has been idle by Zuo Houde on the city gate.

From time to time, the two came to Zuo Houde's side, and Zuo Houde looked at them deeply, as if he wanted to see them through.

was watched by Zuo Houde, and the two didn't dare to speak for a while, and the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Finally Zuo Houde opened his mouth to break the deadlock, Zuo Houde's voice was hoarse, and he said lightly: "How do I treat you two?" ”

Gao Ming and Yao Ping immediately knelt down: "Where did the head of the family say this?" The head of the family was very kind to the two of us, not only giving me two kindness, but also taking care of my family, completely leaving me with no worries. ”

"I'm going to ask you to do something." As soon as Zuo Houde spoke, the hearts of the two of them hung up.

Zuo Houde then said: "Next, I will send troops out of the city to suppress the thieves, and when I exterminate the thieves, you will lead your brothers to occupy the mountain there as kings." ”

Hearing Zuo Houde's words, Gao Ming didn't react for a while, but Yao Ping asked: "Family master, but do you want to raise a bandit for self-respect?" ”

Zuo Houde first glared at Yao Ping, then stood up and said excitedly: "At this time, the world is divided into two parts, it is the time for us to make contributions, and the prince will have a kind of Xiangning?" ”

Gao Ming and Yao Ping couldn't help but be excited when they heard Zuo Houde's words, they were originally unambitious people in the army, and it was a joke to say that they were loyal to Dayan.

Of course, Zuo Houde didn't think that just a few words would make them follow him with all their hearts, so he said: "Of course, this is also a back road, after all, it is a big crime for us to smuggle weapons, and when the time comes, I am afraid it will be difficult to be good." ”

Yao Ping and Gao Ming were shocked when they heard Zuo Houde's words, and only then did they realize that they and others had the great crime of smuggling weapons, and they were not so reluctant to raise bandits for a while.

Zuo Houde continued: "It's okay! When the time comes, if it doesn't work, I will take Dingcheng to Nanming. If it can really be done, the future generations and grandchildren you are waiting for will be prosperous and prosperous, and enjoy it endlessly! ”

As soon as they heard this, the two immediately arched their hands and said, "I wish to listen to what the head of the family says!" ”

Zuo Houde was also satisfied, after all, it was much easier for someone under him to do this.

……

At the beginning of October, a campaign to suppress bandits began, Zuo Houde personally led troops to suppress bandits, of course, more than ten cottages were wiped out in a row, and Zuo Houde collected his troops and went back.

No one found that Zuo Houde's subordinates were missing more than 100 people, and Gao Ming was gone, but Yao Ping knew that they occupied the largest cottage, and from time to time Yao Ping's caravan would be robbed - this was the daily necessities for food and clothing.

Gao Ming and others expanded their men and horses on this cottage to raise a private army for Zuo Houde!

……

Time flies, in the blink of an eye, Zuo Houde has been in Dingcheng for four years, and in the past four years, Zuo Houde has often suppressed bandits, and the private army under Gao Ming and others has gradually occupied dozens of cottages with the support of Zuo Houde, with a total of 70,000 people.

Zuo Houde still has high requirements for these private soldiers, and Zuo Houde also sends the elites of his own personal guard battalions to these cottages to train them and train them into a qualified army.

Of course, it is not that I have not guessed that the bandits around Dingcheng are Zuo Houde's private army, after all, Zuo Houde has suppressed bandits countless times, but there are more and more bandits, and the new bandits, Zuo Houde has not yet exterminated, like the twelve families in the city and several generals in the army have their own guesses.

But they also help to hide, after all, everyone is a person on a rope, and the business of "smuggling" has become bigger and bigger over the years, and everyone has begun to worry about the discovery of the imperial court.

Of course, in the past few years, Dayan and Daming have not fought, but they have not fought in Dingcheng.