Xiao Ming is ready to pack up and prepare to leave Bianjing, and he is accompanied by Ai Qili and others, Xiao Ming is ready to expand the business of Taiping Yinzhuang in the south, so Ai Qili needs to go south to take charge, within the Beijing Division, Richanglong's business is still the same, and no longer make some major adjustments, but the focus is to coordinate the goods with the Northwest Trade Bureau presided over by Xue Bingchang.

Xue Bingchang is now a person in the official mansion, and the yamen of the pedestrian division is located in the sour jujube gate in the original inner city, and it is also Xue Bingchang's wish for half his life to be an official.

Therefore, the Northwest Trade Bureau presided over by him in the selection of business groups to do business in the Western Regions, mainly to take care of Xiao Ming's Richanglong and Taiping Iron Works business groups, now Richanglong has basically included many goods of Taiping Iron Works under his own name, such as iron seven-piece sets, cement glass and other goods, only on some special steel parts, Tianping Iron Works will organize a group to trade.

This is entirely because the transportation is really underdeveloped, and the goods in the northwest are still escorted by the dart bureau, so the goods transported each time are extremely limited, and the profits are also very rich.

But when these caravans arrived west of Ganzhou, the situation changed dramatically, and they were surprised to see a very wide official road in front of everyone's eyes, with a flat and wide surface, and a border on both sides of the road, and rows of trees planted beside the road, although these trees were not large, but they were better than the earthy yellow at a glance.

As soon as everyone inquired, they learned that this road was built by Xiao Ming, and the hundreds of thousands of road-building troops were all prisoners of war and displaced people from the Western Regions, and the road did not pass through Lanzhou, but in the north, and had been connected with Xingqing Mansion in Western Xia, so the later merchant group did not pass from Lanzhou, but went north to Xingqing Mansion, and then went directly to the Western Regions along the road.

In this way, the merchants on the road from Xi'an Weinan and other places to Xi'an are becoming fewer and fewer, and more people take Yan'an Mansion directly to Xingqing Mansion, and the government of the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty and other places do not understand this, and then I understand that such behavior is completely related to the road, and after the merchants arrive at Xingqing Mansion, they can also use this as a transit station, and then go west.

Therefore, in a short period of time, the original commercial and trade activities in Xixia and other places became more and more developed, and Xingqing Mansion almost became a commercial star city in the west, so the local government in the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty was naturally envious, and began to think about building roads, but firstly, the money raised was too little, and the local area was already poor, and secondly, they found that it should be difficult to build a road directly to the Western Regions.

Before Xiao Ming left Bianjing, he also went to Songshan, he heard that Zhou Tong was still staying in the Shaolin Temple, so he wanted to resign, by the way to inquire about Zhao Fujin's movements, thinking that after the turmoil of King Yun, Xiao Ming did not hear any news from Zhao Fujin for a long time, and he was not good at asking Zhao Gou, so he thought of Zhou Tong.

But the people of Shaolin Temple told Xiao Ming that Mr. Zhou Tong had been away for a long time, and he heard that he had gone to Jingxi Road and other places, Xiao Ming was lost, so he returned to Tokyo, thinking that he should go back to Hangzhou first.

That night, Xiao Ming slept until midnight, and was suddenly awakened by a strange noise, he got up in his clothes, and listened carefully to find that the business came out of the yard, but Xiao Ming knew that the yard was generally guarded by Gu Xiaoliu, Guo Shouxin, and Wu Song in turn, if the noise was too loud, he would definitely be alarmed, could it be that something happened to Guo Shouxin today.

He had the courage to open the window, the light outside the house was not very sufficient, the moon was not big tonight, there was only a small waiting cage under the extension corridor, on the flower garden rockery in the yard, Xiao Ming suddenly found two black shadows, it seemed that two people were fighting, and suddenly exclaimed, Xiao Ming's left window lattice issued a "pop!" "A bang!

Xiao Ming was startled, he couldn't help but take two steps back, the wind on his face was blowing, Rao is movement was extremely fast and felt hot pain, it seemed that someone had attacked him, the movements of the two black shadows were extremely fast, and in the exclamation, a black shadow suddenly jumped on the roof and disappeared in an instant!

Another black shadow chased after him, Xiao Ming lit the candle with a match, and then opened the door to check, there was a person outside the door, it was Guo Shouxin, Xiao Ming saw it, it was fainted, it may be the sound of Guo Shouxin fainting and falling to the ground that alarmed Xiao Ming, he checked and found that Guo Shouxin's life was not in danger, so he walked to the yard and wanted to look at the roof.

There was no one on the roof, Xiao Ming didn't dare to say anything, he didn't know who it was, but it seemed that someone wanted to plot against him, and he was a master, such a master was definitely not comparable to those martial arts heroes in Hezhong Mansion.

Xiao Ming was about to move Guo Shouxin into the house to wake him up, when he suddenly felt another wind behind him, turned his head sharply, and saw a black shadow standing there behind him, Xiao Ming suddenly felt a little creepy, if the other party is a killer, it will be over if he returns to the horse gun to deal with him now, he shouted cautiously: "Who is it?" ”

Who knew that the man actually knelt down on one knee and bowed to Xiao Ming, and said, "The master is frightened!" Bai San came half a moment late! ”

"White Three!" Xiao Ming was shocked: "Why are you?" Let's get inside and talk! ”

It was Bai San who followed Gongsun Sheng to Zhongnan Mountain to cultivate, he hadn't seen each other for a few years, Bai San had grown into a tall young man, he was dressed in black, carrying a sword, very capable! Xiao Ming looked at him in surprise, and sighed in his heart, today's Bai San is really a young talent!

Xiao Ming asked Bai San about the reason, and Bai San told Xiao Ming that there was indeed a killer who was ready to attack Xiao Ming just now, and stunned Guo Shouxin, who was guarding the door, but when he was about to make a move, Bai San happened to arrive and stopped the killer's sneak attack on Xiao Ming, and he led Xiao Ming to see the traces on the window purlin.

A palm print like a knife and an axe is being printed on the window frame, Xiao Ming's heart is cold, what kind of kung fu is this? If you hit yourself, you will be seriously injured if you don't die!

Bai San told Xiao Ming. It's called: "Split the empty palm!" "It's a very powerful kung fu, this person's kung fu is extremely high, if it weren't for Bai San having a weapon in his hand, that person would obviously not run away, Xiao Ming must have offended a force that I don't know what kind of force, and someone has already offered a high price for your life!

Xiao Ming secretly thought that if he said that he was waiting for sinners, there would be more people who would be offended! Don't say that the people of the Jin Kingdom are in the Great Song Dynasty, and there are not a few people who have offended, but who wants their own lives? That's not easy to say.

Bai San said: "It's better for the master to be careful recently, if I come in time today, the consequences will be unimaginable!" ”

Xiao Ming smiled: "There are many people who want to kill me!" I don't care about one or two more, by the way, let's talk about you, how has the country been over the years? Looks like you've learned a lot! How is Brother Gongsun Sheng now? ”

Bai San told Xiao Ming that his current Taoist name is "Mingkong!" "Respected Master Gongsun Sheng has already traveled with his senior brother Wang Zhe, and the ancestor Huang Zhenren has returned to heaven, it seems that Gongsun Sheng and Wang Zhe probably went to Kongtong Mountain to find his junior brother Fan Rui, Gongsun Sheng explained to Mingkong, saying that Xiao Ming will probably be in trouble recently, and I hope he will go down the mountain to help.

Now that there is Chongyang Zhenren, the eldest disciple of Uncle Wang Zhe in the Quanzhen Sect of Zhongnan Mountain, Mingkong naturally came quickly, and the result was quite timely, and he did not let the gangsters hurt Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming asked Bai San, what are your plans for the future? Bai San said that he would protect Xiao Ming secretly for a few days, and the killer who came to assassinate today didn't know if he would come, Bai San didn't want Xiao Ming to have any mistakes!

Xiao Ming invited Bai San to go back to Hangzhou with him, but Bai San said: "Mingkong is already in the Daomen, and worldly things will be concluded as much as possible, so the master doesn't have to be reluctant!" ”

"Cultivating real people's family affairs, naturally it's not so easy to say" Xiao Ming also sighed, Bai San then said goodbye and left, leaving no trace, but Xiao Ming knew that he must have been protecting himself in the dark. Sure enough, the assassination in the middle of the night never happened again.

Xiao Ming's chariot and horse marched in the direction of Xuzhou, the frame was fifty miles away from Xuzhou, and there was a cavalry to respond, that was Xiao Ming's own Golden Legion, Han Yanwen with this 10,000-strong army is currently stationed in Xuzhou, and the heavy armored cavalry is no longer the protagonist of the future war in Xiao Ming's concept, so the heavy armored cavalry originally developed by the infantry has also been lifted in Xuzhou.

This team itself is the Han people in Liaodong and other places, Xiao Ming considered taking them back to Liaodong when the time was ripe, these people followed him almost all over the northwest and Western regions, now is the time to be homesick, and the desire to return home will also make this army have strong combat effectiveness.

The majestic city wall of Xuzhou Taiping City is waving flags, the tiger guard breastplate under the city is bright, Jie Zhicong came to greet Xiao Ming with Hao Stick and others, for them Xiao Ming is the city lord of the entire Taiping City! Qian Baguang hadn't seen his old friend Hao Stick for a long time, and now Hao Stick is the guard of Taiping City, and he is very majestic, but he was still punched in the chest by Qian Baguang and made fun of him fiercely.

Wu Song looked at the four large balloons rising high in the four corners of the city wall thoughtfully, he was still nostalgic for the time when he drove the hot air balloon, but unfortunately the largest hydrogen balloon was now thrown in the west! The hydrogen balloon in Taiping City belongs to the city's defense facilities, and every day there are special people on it to observe the movement around them with a telescope.

Now Tianping City is a change again, the development of the whole mine has been in full swing, but the output is not large, the mine manager Li Laohe complained to Xiao Ming, saying that there is an urgent shortage of manpower, and there are fewer and fewer skilled miners, because a lot of iron ore has suddenly been discovered in various places, and everyone is gathering manpower, so that Tianping Iron Mine buys a large amount of iron ore from Dingzhou in Western Xia to increase the output of the iron factory.

Xiao Ming has no way to solve the manpower problem for him for the time being, and now he doesn't fight, and he can't capture prisoners of war to use, so he can only do this for the time being, but it is necessary to take the high-quality route, but his idea was opposed by Jie Zhicong.

Why? It is not wrong for Hangzhou's base steel plant to take the high-quality route, but the Taiping Iron Plant is different, this iron plant has relied on the volume since its establishment, and it is clear from all over the world that the Taiping Iron Plant in Xuzhou produces Taiping iron products with good quality and high price, and the output is very large! In order to maintain this production, it is necessary to develop a large area of iron ore.

If we reduce production and take the high-quality route, it will inevitably cause many workers to have nothing to do, and the factories and mines will lay off employees for the sake of cost, so there will be many people without food, which is absolutely impossible, which is contrary to the original intention of establishing this Taiping City.

Xiao Ming thinks about it, since this is the case, the output of iron ore can't go up, so it's good to buy iron ore on a large scale, the iron ore in Dingzhou in Western Xia can be given priority to the Taiping Iron Works, and several iron mines in Yanzhou and other places can be won through mergers and purchases, and then there are coal mines, that is to say, the iron factory must also have its own coal mines.

Then find a way from the Western Regions, or find a way around it, anyway, it's not bad for money, and the iron and steel enterprises must have the domineering of the iron and steel enterprises, mergers, purchases, exclusive competition, and monopoly is the king!