Businessman He Yousheng's idea was rejected by the top management of Xujiazhuang.

If the Dongjiang rebels were crushed by the armed forces of these mining merchants, what else would the imperial army do?

Once this kind of overstepping the line is done, the court will lose face, and then regard the mining merchants as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh, and it is possible to send troops to attack, and the court's discipline cannot be overestimated.

What's more, Xu Jiazhuang doesn't want to be too high-profile and conspicuous at present.

The second reason is that for Zhaoyuan gold mine, Xu Yuan is very greedy, here is one of the highest "gold content" areas in China, gold reserves of more than 1,000 tons, accounting for one-seventh of the country, in the modern society has the "gold capital" said, continuous mining for hundreds of years have not been exhausted, is a very important gold source.

Xu Yuan planned to send managers to directly control the Zhaoyuan Gold Mine, using the most advanced modern mining equipment to dig out a large amount of gold, and then transport it to Harbour City and deposit it in his personal vault.

Even if only three to five tonnes of gold are produced per year, this is very impressive.

It's just that after some discussion, it was agreed that it was not feasible for Xujiazhuang to directly send troops to occupy the Zhaoyuan gold mine, and it was difficult for more than 500 elite village guards to control the entire mining area and manage tens of millions of miners, which was beyond the scope of their tasks, and their own job was to destroy and kill, not to supervise other people's mining.

Professional things still have to be done by professional people.

The senior management of Xujiazhuang intends to give full play to the power of businessmen.

Shandong Miners Alliance was soon announced to be established, under the traction of Xujiazhuang, the businessmen who controlled the mines in Shandong were all organized to form a special "Miners Alliance", and in the future, they would either engage in internal cooperation, or share mining technology and management experience, or unite to deal with external threats, after all, the combined strength of these twelve large miners is enough to resist the army of 100,000 imperial courts.

After the establishment of the Shandong Miners Alliance, the first major thing to do was that under the arrangement of Xujiazhuang, each of the twelve major miners sent a part of the troops.

Among them, He Yousheng won 2,000 mining soldiers.

Lu Youxing sent 2,000 miners.

Hu Wenting sent 200 miners.

The other nine miners sent out miners ranging from 200 to 1,000 men.

In a fairly short period of time, a coalition of miners with a total number of 8,000 people was formed.

In addition, the more than 500 elite Xu family troops sent by Xujiazhuang, as well as a large number of canned meat, compressed biscuits and other logistical support.

Subsequently, under the leadership of Xu Huoqing, this coalition of miners with a scale of nearly 10,000 people marched into the territory of Laizhou Prefecture on December 10 and began to contact and fight with the Dongjiang rebel scouts, which attracted the great attention of the Dongjiang army.

Even so.

The coalition of miners did not rush to attack the rebels, but set up camp in a place called Guanzhuang village, about 100 miles west of Laizhou City, and quickly built a strong camp.

At the same time, a team of representatives was sent to the north, about thirty miles away, in a place called Xiaying Town, to find the imperial officials and soldiers stationed here to discuss cooperation.

That's right.

The imperial court also responded quickly to the rebellion launched by the Dongjiang Army, and had sent a number of troops and horses to quell the rebellion, in order to eliminate the rebels as soon as possible.

There are 3,000 soldiers and horses of Yang Yufan, the general soldier of Tongzhou.

There were 2,000 soldiers and horses led by Wang Hong, the chief soldier of Tianjin.

There are 3,000 soldiers and horses led by Deng Xi, the chief soldier of Jimen.

These three imperial court soldiers and horses, it took more than a month to arrive in Shandong, and the Dongjiang rebels fought several battles, all of them fell behind, did not dare to fight again, and then these three troops and horses shrunk into a ball, ready to wait for the imperial reinforcements from other places to come, before they had the courage to continue to march to relieve the danger of Laizhou City being besieged by the rebels.

……

On December 12th, it snowed.

Xiaying Town, the camp of the imperial court, a good news spread in the camp, reinforcements are coming! A very elite reinforcement army was thirty miles to the south, and the shame of being beaten by the Dongjiang rebels could soon be washed away and ended.

Inside the tent of the general barracks.

"The miners' coalition, nearly 10,000 elites, want to join forces with us to suppress the thieves?"

The general soldier Yang Yufan was confused by the unfamiliar word of the miners' coalition, his head was down for a moment, and he tried his best to search the memory in his head, but he couldn't find such an official and military establishment.

"We are a private army that has just been formed, just like the local township brave regiment training, the purpose of the establishment is to defend our hometown, and never let those foreigners from Liaodong slaughter our hometown and destroy our homeland, so a number of miners contributed money and people to form this army." The representative of Xujiazhuang explained.

"It turned out to be a township brave regiment training, low combat effectiveness, and unknown military discipline, even if there are 10,000 people, what can they do?" Tianjin General Soldier Wang Hong, a bearded man, shook his head in disappointment.

"Hehe, what is the actual combat strength of the miners' coalition army, you have to fight with the rebels to know, at least we came all the way, fought with the rebel scouts eight times, beheaded seventy-six, and only lost two of our own side. In addition, we came here this time to negotiate a deal with the three general soldiers, and for the three general soldiers, there is only a deal of benefit and no harm. ”

Xu Huoqing couldn't help but speak, as a military commander, the purpose of infiltrating the negotiator team was to get a touch of the details of these officers and soldiers, and the result made him very disappointed.

"Bold, who are you to dare to speak outrageously?!"

Deng Xi, the chief soldier of Jimen, scolded, this is a fierce general who has been killed from a small soldier, who has repeatedly made military exploits in Sichuan, and Hou Liangzhu slashed the bandit leader An Bangyan of the Lu'an Rebellion, hearing Xu Huoqing's ridicule of this young junior, he was naturally furious, eager to draw his sword and cut it, and he didn't believe what he said, if the rebels with sharp firearms were really so easy to fight, why did their court army of seven or eight thousand people stop patrolling?

"Mr. Deng, please calm your anger, you don't have to worry about young people."

Zhang Xianglong, the representative of Xujiazhuang, hurriedly said: "Cooperation, how about I wait or talk about cooperation?" In addition, our Shandong Miners Alliance needs a large number of miners, if the prisoners captured by the imperial army are willing to trade to us, and those who are sound in their hands and feet are willing to pay 30 silver dollars per person, or provide a set of weapons and armor. ”

Zhang Xianglong clapped his hands.

Two attendants came in with a suitcase.

Zhang Xianglong opened the box, took out a set of half-body plate armor (only protecting the front of the human body), and a pair of alloy goose feather knives that never corroded, and introduced them to the three general soldiers.

"The weight of the half-body plate armor is only twenty-two pounds, which can protect the front of the human body more than ninety percent of the area, because the weight is evenly distributed throughout the body, the burden is very small, and after wearing, it is the most flexible action in all armor, does not affect any action, and can resist all attacks such as knife slashing, axe chopping, arrow shooting, etc., which is the pinnacle of traditional armor."

"This alloy Yanling knife, the blade is four feet two long, containing titanium, nickel, chromium and other rare metals, the density is lower than steel, so the weight is equivalent to ordinary long knives, but the hardness and toughness are extremely high, never rust, easy to maintain, if you face the ordinary steel knife, the steel knife blade is broken ten, but this alloy knife can still continue to kill the enemy."

Listened to the introduction.

The pupils of the general soldiers Yang Yufan, Wang Hong, and Deng Xi dilated, and their breathing became extremely short.

Yang Yufan couldn't help but put on the plate armor and tried it, after experiencing its lightness and super high defensive power, he immediately forgot all about his sixty-pound set of Mingguang armor, and was reluctant to take it off at all, until Zhang Xianglong said that he would give him this set of plate armor, he laughed, saying that this set of plate armor will be his heirloom in the future.

The chief soldier Wang Hong and Deng Xi, one of them took an alloy Yanling knife, and the other held an ordinary steel knife or used his own general's sword, and played with a sword slash, bang bang sparks splashed everywhere, Deng Xi's ordinary blade was cut ten times in a row, and the alloy Yanling knife held by Wang Hong, although there are many small gaps, can still be used, and can still kill the enemy.

"Three adults, this plate armor and alloy knife are very good, right? To tell the truth, nearly 10,000 soldiers of our miners' coalition army are all equipped with plate armor and alloy knives, with such divine soldiers in hand, how can the rebels be wiped out in a few days! ”

Xu Huoqing couldn't help but show off again.

What?!

The three commanders were all shocked.

Nearly 10,000 troops equipped with plate armor and alloy knives, what is this concept? I'm afraid it's comparable to an army of 100,000 families!

Deng Xi took the alloy Yanling knife, observed it carefully, and when he was close to the handle of the knife, he suddenly saw the small words 'Xujiazhuang Iron Mill Casting', his face changed greatly, and he glared at Zhang Xianglong and others: "Xujiazhuang, it turns out that you are the people sent by Xujiazhuang, say!" What are your plans? ”

"Xujiazhuang?"

Yang Yufan also found the font 'Made in Xujiazhuang Plate Armor Factory' on the half-body plate armor he was wearing, and immediately called a team of soldiers to come in, drew a knife to surround Zhang Xianglong and others, and said with a gloomy face: "It is a matter of the court to exterminate the rebels, what are you Xu Jiazhuang involved in doing, what is the conspiracy?" ”

"Hahaha!"

Zhang Xianglong raised his head and laughed, without fear, and said: "The three adults are too worried, what bad intentions can we have in Xujiazhuang, it's just that we have a fancy to Shandong's mining resources, but the rebels are raging, if we don't get rid of them, how can we mine in peace?" The three adults don't need to be suspicious, this cooperation is only good for you, not bad, the merit of exterminating the rebels, yours, every time you capture a prisoner and sell it to us, it is 30 silver dollars or a complete set of equipment, a great opportunity is in front of you, but the three adults are so guarded, it's just that! If we're not welcome, I'll leave as soon as possible. ”

He turned around and was about to leave with his followers.

"Wait!"

Yang Yufan shouted to him and said, "Don't go, what you said is true?" ”

"Naturally, take it seriously!" Zhang Xianglong nodded.

"Mr. Yang doesn't-" Deng Xi wanted to stop him, but Wang Hong stopped him, obviously Wang Hong was also moved.

The cooperation between the two parties was reached.

In order to show their sincerity, the miners' alliance also sent a batch of canned meat and compressed biscuits, so that the imperial court officials and soldiers quickly experienced the benefits of cooperating with the miners' alliance, and the internal opposition was even smaller.

It's just that if you want to get greater benefits, in the future of insufficient strength, to find trouble with the Dongjiang rebels is obviously asking for trouble, and you don't have that certainty, but the temptation of 30 silver dollars per captive or a set of equipment makes this imperial army scratch their hearts and stomachs, and they are extremely eager to do it.

"Directly catch some young people to make up the numbers, can't they also be used as miners?"

A certain officer thought of a good way that made everyone's eyes light up.

Soon the people around Xiaying Town suffered, in just a few days, more than 3,000 young and strong men were captured, successfully exchanged for silver dollars and equipment, this imperial army made a fortune, the faces of the general soldier Yang Yufan and others were going to laugh badly, as long as more people were captured, his army could be changed for guns, and a comprehensive change of equipment was realized.

……

A group of young men were tied together with hemp rope and taken to the camp in Guanzhuang Village like slaves.

"Damn! The officials and soldiers of the imperial court arrested all poor and innocent people, and Deputy Zhang of Xujiazhuang, knowing that it was boring, why did he agree to such an ugly deal? ”

Businessman Hu Wenting was very angry, and privately and vigorously criticized, and even complained about the representative of Xujiazhuang.

"Hehe, Brother Hu, this is exactly the plan of Representative Zhang, the officials and soldiers of the imperial court have done something to catch good and pretend, and thousands of people are in our hands, we can expose them as witnesses at any time, the three general soldiers sent us a knife, they have no other way to go in the future except to cooperate more closely with us."

Businessman Lu Youxing smiled and saw through everything at a glance.

"This ...... Where are the interests of the people? ”

Hu Wenting only felt cold all over, and let out an uncomfortable lament in his heart.