Two days later.

Shuotuo was sent back, not abused, nor beheaded, but sent a good horse and some dry food, and arranged for two night cavalry escorts, let Shuotuo return to Liaoyang City.

Again, he saw his younger brother Shuoto, who was sound and had only some minor injuries all over his body, standing alive in front of him.

Yue Tuo felt incredulous, rubbed his eyes vigorously, and then patted him on him, and after confirming that it was a real person, he asked: "You are not dead, why didn't the Ming people kill you and release you back?" "He thought that his brother Shuoto would die.

"I also thought that they would kill me and exchange my head for a reward, but Lord Wu Xiang Wu pleaded and saved my life."

Shuo Tuo explained that because of the defeat, he walked in front of the gate of hell and picked up a life, and now his face did not have the slightest rebelliousness, but showed happiness and gratitude, and he was grateful to that Wu Xiang Wu general soldier.

"Why would he intercede for you? The Ming army hates us to the core, and if we are captured, we will inevitably die, is it ......?"

Yue Tuo's mind flashed with inspiration, and he thought of a word, and said: "Raising Kou self-respect, do you see that we are so weak, these Ming army commanders, and want to play with Raising Kou to avoid the death of rabbits and dogs in the court?" It must be so, it must be so, hahaha! God help me wait, it seems that we still have the opportunity to make a comeback and enter the Central Plains, the Ming people will always only fight, and they will always only be suspicious of the meritorious heroes, hahaha, as long as there are these self-respecting Ming soldiers, we will always have a chance to turn the tables! ”

For example, their grandfather Nurhachi, wasn't he raised by Li Chengliang, the general soldier of Liaodong? Otherwise, the Jurchen Eight Banners would not have developed to the point of occupying almost the entire Liaodong and being invincible.

Unexpectedly, the general soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were going to pick up their traditional arts again.

Good thing.

This is definitely a good thing for the Jurchen Eight Banners!

"Big brother, it's not like this, they just think it's not cost-effective to cut off my head, and it won't bring much benefit."

Shuo Tuo shook his head and said: "They let me come back because they wanted me to help spread the word, they just wanted to establish a business cooperation with our Dajin, they just wanted to make more money, not to support themselves." ”

"Cooperation, what cooperation? We're all running out, how else can we work together? Yue Tuo looked puzzled.

"Trees, there are many trees in Liaodong, Lord Wu took a fancy to the trees on our mountain, and wanted to buy a large amount of wood from us, as well as the wild ginseng on the mountain, the Dongzhu in the river, etc., they all want these good things, and said that they would give us a more suitable price......

Shuoto took a moment to explain in detail.

That's right.

After capturing Shuotuo alive, Cao Wenzhao and Wang Yinghui both advocated escorting him to the capital to sacrifice prisoners, so that the court could cut thousands of knives in exchange for the emperor's reward.

Just a Baylor, how much reward can you get in exchange?

Is it a thousand silver dollars, or is it a knighthood? Or to seal the wife and the shadow, the most amazing thing is to add half a level or one level of officials, such as from the deputy general soldier to the general soldier, the general soldier is crowned with the title of General Longhu or General Jianwei, and then it is basically to the top, as for the admiral, the governor and the like, only civilian officials are qualified to serve, they don't think about it.

That is, no matter how meritorious you are, the upside is very limited.

What's more, if there are still three general soldiers to share this credit, the reward will be even more limited.

Among Cao Wenzhao, Wu Xiang, and Wang Yinghui, Cao Wenzhao's ability to command troops is the strongest, and he is a relatively pure martial artist.

Wu Xiang is a genius in management, he may be a scum in leading troops to fight, but he is definitely an excellent businessman, in the Guanning army, on his Wu family's various businesses to do well, purchase countless industries, so the Wu family's treatment is the best, equipment combat effectiveness is not weak, plus there is a very capable son Wu Sangui, under the two factors, Guanning army, gradually led by the Wu family.

This time, in the face of Shuotuo's high-value captivity, Wu Xiang's business acumen immediately turned, he believed that now Liaodong was short of food, and if Jiannu could not get food supplies, he would only take risks, even if he did not fight the Ming Dynasty, he would also attack Mongolia or Korea, and he would always seek a way out, and it was impossible to sit still and starve to death.

In this case, it is better to establish cooperation with Jiannu and sell some cheap coarse grains to them, but you have to bring over high-quality wood, wild ginseng, Dongzhu and other resources from Liaodong in exchange, such as a tree for ten catties of grain, a wild ginseng for twenty catties, and a high-grade Dongzhu for five catties.

And high-quality wood, wild ginseng, Dongzhu, etc., are the most needed materials in Xujiazhuang, how much to buy, just like a variety of mineral resources, the price is also very good, not afraid that Xujiazhuang will not want.

In this way, the Guan Ning army acted as an intermediary, the Jurchen Jiannu provided resources, and Xu Jiazhuang was responsible for the purchase, paying with silver dollars or grain, and the Guan Ning army supplied a certain amount of grain to solve the problem of food shortage for the Jiannu.

A three-party trade cycle is formed.

Anyone can get what they need.

Guan Ningjun, who was an intermediary transit, only paid a small amount of hard work, and obtained a lot of benefits, which is equivalent to the Jurchen Jiannu working for them, and there is no need to be afraid of being counterattacked, and if you don't stop talking, you will run out of food, and see how many days you can last?

Or you can also exert military pressure, now there are less than 30,000 elites left in the Eight Banners, and the Guanning army has 780,000, and there are more than 30,000 equipped with plate armor and alloy knives.

So that Jiannu has no way out but to choose to cooperate.

Regarding Wu Xiang's plan, Wang Yinghui expressed his approval and support.

Cao Wenzhao didn't support it at all, he just wanted to destroy the huge threat of Houjin as soon as possible and recover Liaodong for the imperial court, but in the face of Wu Xiang's words: "When we sweep away Jiannu, how will the imperial court arrange for us, will it agree that we will continue to garrison Liaodong?" Will the civil servants of the imperial court not slander us, but watch us buy property instead of impeaching us for malicious intentions? At that time, the Ministry of War will send an order, shall I wait or not? ”

Hear these questions.

Cao Wenzhao was silent, if it was before, the court ordered him to do whatever he wanted, let him go wherever he wanted, there was no second word, but now he has purchased an industry, his relatives and friends, disabled soldiers, and retired subordinates around him have all arranged high-paying positions, and have gained countless sincere support, and now he wants to be the pure chief soldier of the imperial court, he himself is willing, but the people around him are willing? Are the soldiers under him willing?

Raising a Kou is self-respecting, no, raising a Kou to survive, this is really a last resort, after all, those civil officials in the court are too disgusting.

Yawen Library

So in the end, Cao Wenzhao had to painfully go against his original intention and agree to Wu Xiang's business plan.

……

"It turns out that the Ming army not only wants to raise Kou self-respect, but also wants to do business with us, and is willing to trade grain to us, a good thing, this is a great thing!"

After listening to Shuo Tuo's explanation, Yue Tuo was even more happy, every time they Jurchen reached the point of encountering a huge crisis, there would always be some good things happening, thus reversing the extremely bad and passive situation.

God forbid.

He just wanted to explain it with the blessing of God.

"Big brother, this is a good thing, but the Hermes-Epitek in Liaodong has all run out, and there is no one who wants to cut down trees for food, as well as the wild ginseng on the mountain and the Dongzhu in the river, all of which need to be collected by hand, and now that the Hermes-Epitek coat is gone, how can we collect these materials?"

At this time, Shuo Tuo's question made Yue Tuo's face change greatly, and then his face was extremely pale.

No one is there.

Millions of Hermes-Epitek and Baoyi were all driven away or killed.

Arrived almost no one left.

But who will cut down the trees on the mountain without people?

Who digs the wild ginseng in the mountains? Who will pick the east pearls in the river?

Do you want them to let the children of the Eight Banners and the Jurchen people do these menial work? They haven't done this work for many years, will they still have these skills and crafts? Can you endure that suffering?

"Wrong, we did wrong, we shouldn't have expelled those Han people in order to save food, without them, I'm afraid we would have to do those jobs ourselves." Yue Tuo's heart was full of remorse.

"Can you catch some people from somewhere else instead? Such as Mongolians, Koreans? Shuoto asked.

"Difficult, difficult, a few days ago, your impulsiveness, buried three thousand elites, and now the youth of the clan has been reduced to less than thirty thousand, and then go to the surrounding area to loot, it will lead to the hometown being unguarded, not to mention, if there is another loss, the Eight Banners will be completely finished - we have no capital to fight." Yue Tuo's expression was discouraged.

"I, I was wrong, I deserve to die, please punish my eldest brother!" Shuoto finally realized his impulsiveness and stupidity, and his face turned pale, and he couldn't help but kneel.

"You're damned! But how to punish is to be decided by the father Khan. ”

Yue Tuo called a few armor soldiers, and for the crime of not obeying the general's orders, he took Shuo Tuo down, and put out fifty military sticks with heavy reproaches, making him look as miserable as possible.

……

September 15th.

Shengjing City, the Great Palace, the king's council.

"Bastard, three thousand elites, one-tenth of the adult clansmen are young and strong, and they were buried by you, and you still have the face to come back alive? Beheaded, push this sinner down and behead him, and bury the three thousand dead clansmen to apologize! ”

The new Great Khan Daishan was furious and immediately wanted to execute his second son, Shuoto.

"Great Khan."

"Although Shuotuo is impulsive, it is also for the sake of breaking off, in order to defend the blood and courage of my Eight Banners!"

"His crimes are punishable, but his deeds are pitiful, and if I were on the battlefield, I might have made the same decision."

"There are not many men in my clan anymore, so kill one less one."

"Degrade Shuotuo to an ordinary flagman and let him make meritorious contributions!"

"Yes, now that Hermes-Epitek has run out of clothes, let Shuotuo go to work to feed the people."

With the pleas of the other banner owners and the Baylors, Shuoto saved his life, but lost his noble status and was relegated to the lowest level of the bannermen, which can be said to have no future.

Only the past two days.

Shuotuo was sent to Tieling Mountain in the northeast of Shengjing City, with an extra axe in his hand, and had to aim at a big tree that was thick for an adult to hug, and cut it down with a sigh, and was assigned the task of cutting down at least ten trees a day, and also had to remove the branches, saw, and carry them to the Liao River, and had to work for at least seven hours a day, which was extremely hard.

But he had to do it! Nowadays, there is a serious shortage of food, a big tree can be exchanged for 20~30 catties of grain, as long as the tree is cut enough, you can get enough food to feed all the tribesmen.

It's just that his personal strength is limited, and no matter how hard he cuts, he can only solve the rations of more than a dozen clansmen.

And before October, the Liao River will be frozen, with the help of the river to solve the transportation of wood (land transportation is inefficient, will tire people to death), there are only a short ten days left.

So in order to make the most of this precious ten days.

From September 18.

Nearly 30,000 elites of the Eight Banners, each with an ax or a wooden saw, entered the Tieling Mountain, but this time they had to deal with not any cattle, sheep and horses in their eyes, but the big trees, that is, these Eight Banners elites who were originally extremely powerful at cutting people, all of them became lumberjacks.