Not to mention the Lu brothers who were fratricidal in Baishui Manor, after Li Tai led his troops back to the Luoxi Branch, he immediately asked people to transfer a batch of materials from Shangyuan Village as the starting capital for Baishui Fangcheng.

The sooner we get hold of a considerable armed force, the sooner we will be able to enjoy the corresponding power and benefits.

Li Tai really wants to distinguish between public and private, or spend the money of the imperial court to do his own business, but the general environment of the Kansai Bafu does not allow it. What the hegemon can give is only some policy and power care, and more practical support is completely absent.

Not only Li Tai, who is keen to build up his own power, but even many subordinate officials of the Taiwan government have actually maintained a state of ruining their families and relieving their difficulties, using their private wealth to fill the financial deficits in the ministry, so as to maintain the normal operation of the political power and let the power they have exist and continue to develop.

The so-called born in sorrow and died in peace, to a certain extent, the confrontation between the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasty was not just a duel between Gao Huan and Yu Wentai, at least in the Western Wei Dynasty, although there was a congenital deficiency of the regime, but the depth and breadth of its rule were beyond the reach of the Eastern Wei regime.

Take Li Tai himself as an example, if he was in the Eastern Wei Dynasty or in the Southern Dynasty, he would never be selfless enough to pay out of his own pocket to do something that the government needs to bear, on the one hand, the other two regimes do not have such a large degree of autonomy, and on the other hand, there are other ways and means to drill camps to achieve it.

But in the Western Wei Dynasty, from the officials to the people, they are all poor, and so many people are staring at Baishui picking up some rags, if you are not willing to pay, your power will have no place and no way to extend.

This year, the business momentum of Li Tai's own manor is quite good, although he has experienced the twists and turns of the Heba brothers in the middle, but under the appearance of Yuwen Hu, Li Tai does not need to have actual efforts.

As for the ordnance purchased from the Hedong family, it will be delivered with a part of the spoils of the First World War in northern Shaanxi, and a new order will be paid next year. Therefore, this year, Li Tai's own industry is estimated to have a surplus of more than 30,000 horses.

This is already an extremely considerable amount of wealth, and if it is in the Taiping World, Li Tai can even return to the field and lie down and enjoy life.

But in this troubled world, if you want to protect your wealth, you must have power, and if you want to hold power, this amount of money is still a drop in the bucket, and you need to continue to work hard.

While he was still on the way, Li Tai had already ordered the news of building a fortified city in Baishui and recruiting the township tyrants as soldiers, coupled with the plan to cooperate with the county to clear out the bandits, and when he returned to the Luoxi Agency, many township tycoons had already gathered here, wanting to find out more inside stories and participate in it.

Li Tai received some township heroes and told them that in principle, they could only manage the personnel along the Luoshui River and canal, and were not qualified to directly recruit township figures.

But if these people can join the Qu Alliance and compile the tribe into Quhu, they can join the Baishui Defense Armament under the auspices of Li Tai.

"I Have a Catalogue of Ghosts and Gods"

The reason for the erection of such a barrier is, of course, to avoid direct conflict with the local government.

Although Li Tai is not afraid of these local administrators, he cannot indulge in any kind of power struggle between them, make a reasonable reason on the face, and give each other a step, even if there is any conflict, there is room for buffer.

The second is naturally to strengthen the local influence of the Qu League, the larger the organization of the Qu League, the deeper the penetration into the countryside, and the power in Li Tai's hands can have more dimensions to maintain. Even if one day he can no longer dominate along Luoshui due to the adjustment of his position, he can still maintain his control through the Qu Alliance.

For those who are strong in the countryside, if they are just curious to ask, whether there is an obstacle to the Qu Alliance, it is unlikely that they will join in kind. If you are full of enthusiasm, then joining the Qu Alliance is not an obstacle.

The previous Qumeng was still based on the mutually beneficial nostalgia and rural law, and the development momentum was not bad. Now that there is more power in the hands of Li Tai as an endorsement, the number of joiners has increased dramatically for a while. So much so that Li Tai had to open a separate production line to print the personnel registers in the Qu League.

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the hometown, the Qu League soon submitted a list of 1,000 people to recruit soldiers and expand the army. Li Tai also selected a few veterans from He Batsheng's old ministry who were proficient in military formation and training to join the Qu League as the head of the league and preside over the recruitment and expansion of the army.

As for himself, he took out to prepare gifts and returned to Huazhou City to visit Duguxin.

Duguxin's mansion in Huazhou City is adjacent to He Batsheng's former residence, which was originally not, but when Duguxin returned to participate in the big parade this year, he asked his family to arrange to move here.

When Li Tai visited, the mansion had not yet been relocated and renovated.

There is not a large mansion on the left that is large enough to house Dugu Xin's many family scrolls, so this mansion is spliced together from several nearby mansions. The courtyard was filled with all kinds of materials, and many people were working day and night.

Dugu Xin had to return to Longbian a year ago, so he did not follow Daxingtai to inspect the river defense, and stayed in Huazhou City to enjoy the time with his family.

Li Taigang sat down in the front hall for a long time, Dugu Xin walked into the hall, different from the meticulousness when meeting outside, Dugu Xin at home was dressed casually, wearing a cyan robe of Yanju and a feather covering the ground, looking chic and elegant.

"I'm sorry, Boshan. Just now, I was holding the new small things in the house, so as not to prevent my clothes from being stained, and you are not a strange guest, so I came to see you. ”

Dugu Xin raised his hand and motioned for Li Tai, who got up to salute, to sit down, his expression was relaxed and casual, probably still immersed in the warmth of teasing his children just now, and he was also a little closer when he faced Li Tai.

When Li Tai heard this, he couldn't help but think about it, he knew that Dugu Xin's step-room, Cui, gave birth to a little daughter in the middle of the year, that is, Dugu Garo in the later generations, and sent his family to send a congratulatory gift.

At this time, hearing Duguxin complaining that his robe was soiled by this little daughter, Li Tai suddenly felt secretly happy in his heart, and said in his heart, you should be better to this little daughter, and when your family falls in the middle of the road in the future, it will all depend on this little daughter to pull it again.

The two of them gossiped a few words in the hall, and the noise of craftsmen and workers came from time to time outside the hall, which made Dugu Xin feel a little embarrassed, so he got up and said: "The new house is moving, and there are many discomforts, so it is really not a good place to entertain guests." There is another industry in the township near Boshan, your hometown, would you like to go out on a safari together? ”

After hearing this, Li Tai hurriedly got up and said with a smile: "Don't disturb me, just be a guest." ”

"Then you wait a moment, and I'll go inside and change my riding clothes."

After Dugu Xin dropped this sentence, he walked out of the hall and went straight to the inner house.

Li Tai waited in the outer hall for half an hour, and Dugu Xin returned, the whole person's clothes were already new, not to mention the gorgeous hakama pleated shawl, even the hair was taken care of black and shiny, it can be seen that the idol burden is still extremely heavy, and he has to clean up properly when he goes out.

Dugu Xin, who had regained his majesty, did not look very good, and first raised his hand to signal Li Tai to wait for a while, and he pointed to the house slave and reprimanded him.

Li Tai was a little curious about what made Dugu Xin angry, but it was not easy to get up and listen to other people's family affairs, so he just stood a little embarrassed, tiptoeing and kicking the fallen leaves on the ground.

"Let Boshan laugh, there is no master at home to discipline carefully, and the house slave has lost my beloved things, which is really infuriating!"

After a while, Dugu Xin came over angrily, holding a delicately shaped rhinoceros leather scabbard in his hand, and said with some distress and helplessness: "If something else is still down, but that old knife is a Su Tie Treasure Blade made by a famous artist when I visited Hebei in my early years, and it has been sharp and has been carried with me for many years." When I went to town in the middle of the year, I was sad and I accidentally stayed at home, but I didn't want to be lost......"

Listening to Dugu Xin's babbling complaints, it can be seen that the pain of the loss of this treasure knife is naturally not an ordinary thing that can be so regretted by him, but Li Tai faintly felt a little bad in this chatter, and raised his arm without a trace to press on the handle of his saber and turned sideways slightly.

"Alas, the law of Su Tie is only seen in Hebei, but it is rarely seen in Kansai. What's more, my treasure knife has been with me for many years, it is already a human nature, when I lived in Jiangdong, the Liang owner gave a rhino skin side, and I personally cut it into a scabbard. Now the container is still there, but the knife is gone, so people can see things sadly, give it to Boshan for you......"

As he spoke, Dugu Xin handed the rhinoceros skin scabbard in his hand to Li Tai, and subconsciously turned his gaze to Li Tai's waist.

Since coming to this world, Li Tai has also experienced many embarrassing situations, but only this time made him feel a kind of cramped uneasiness that was close to social death and didn't want to face it at all.

Seeing Dugu Xin like this, he obviously recognized his love knife, although he knew that it was in vain, Li Tai still tried his best to cover the handle of the knife sideways with his arm, and was a little embarrassed to look at Dugu Xin.

There was a wordless stalemate between them for a while, and finally Dugu Xin poked Li Tai's elbow with the scabbard, and didn't ask more, but said in a deep voice: "Take it, the rhino skin moisturizer is far better than the vulgar leather, don't raise famous things." ”

Li Tai nodded awkwardly, raised his hand to take the rhino skin scabbard, pulled the saber out of the cowhide scabbard and replaced it, and when he was about to buckle it back to his waist, he came to his senses and held the knife to make a slight gesture to Dugu Xin.

Dugu Xin only glanced at it and then retracted his gaze, and only after coughing dryly did he say again: "The previous work is not dishonoring, continue to work hard." I have many more such famous knives, and I am not the only one who often uses them. ”

When he had said this, he led his horse, turned over, rode out, and did not stop until he reached the former residence of Ho Batsheng next door, and looked thoughtfully at the half-closed gate.

When Li Tai and the Dugu family members arrived, Dugu Xin glanced at Li Tai again, and then pointed to the gate and said, "Why is the defense so lax here?" I don't know if the lady is in the house? Send a group of people over, and don't leave day or night! ”