Dapan Fort.

At dusk that day, Wang Yue rode a war horse into the fort, looking at the lively military households and people in the streets and alleys, Wang Yue also had a smile on his face.

"I really can't imagine that in just a few months, a small fire road pier has become such a large-scale tunbao, the first chief is really a god, not to mention Lingshanwei, even the entire Ming Dynasty is rare!"

Maybe Wang Yue is used to being a sycophant, thinking about these things in his heart at this time, and he also habitually began to compliment Liu Yanlai.

But then Wang Yue's heart collapsed, Liu Yan asked himself to beat the smuggler Sun Qian, but after a few days, Wang Yue couldn't even find a figure, that Sun Qian seemed to have evaporated from the world, and he couldn't see him alive or dead.

"How can I go back and get back to Captain A?"

Wang Yue thought about it, and came to the outside of the courtyard of the General Flag Office: "It's better to report to Chief A." ”

In the main hall, Liu Yan frowned slightly after listening to Wang Yue's report, and said: "Let's do this first, the salt dealers must be running around, and it is not a big deal to find no one for a few days." ”

Wang Yue breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Jiachang Mingjian, this is indeed the case. ”

Liu Yan said: "But you also have to take this matter to heart, remember to continue to look for Sun Qian, and report to me as soon as there is news." ”

"Yes, my subordinates must keep in mind."

In the blink of an eye, it was August 12th, although it was already autumn, but the weather was still hot, and the salt field at this time was already on the right track, and the busy military households in the salt field were not only women, but also many young and strong.

At this time, Dapanbao was famous, during this period of time, there were constantly military households and a small number of displaced people came to take refuge, in just over a month, Dapanbao increased more than 70 military households, more than 300 people.

Liu Yan immediately transferred more than 100 of them to the salt drying field to increase the production of sea salt.

Most of the remaining population settled on the Juntun side, and followed Chen Xun to reclaim wasteland in the northwest. At present, although more than 3,000 acres of cultivated land in Dapanbao have been reclaimed, with the increase of population, it is no longer enough, and it is necessary to continue to open up the wasteland.

Under the various expenses, Liu Yan's monthly expenditure has reached more than 1,700 taels of silver, of which the purchase and manpower are the majority.

Fortunately, Liu Yan now has two incomes, a soap workshop and a salt drying field, otherwise he would be a little stretched in the face of the current situation.

That night, the weather was unusually hot, Liu Yan lay in the house tossing and turning, and unconsciously remembered Wang Yunhe.

Since the last time Wang Yunhe gave Liu Yan ointment, Liu Yan has a trace of softness in his heart, and later when he bought soybean oil or went to Wangjiazhuang, he also went to Wanfu Oil Mill several times, but neither of them went further.

"Alas!"

Liu Yan sighed, and said with some self-reproach: "Liu Yan, Liu Yan, people are girls, it's good enough to take the initiative to send things, why can't you take the initiative!" ”

Liu Yan turned over, and then secretly wondered if he was looking for an opportunity to go to Wanfu Oil Mill again, thinking about what gifts to give Wang Yunhe.

Suddenly, a sharp knock on the door sounded, Liu Yan turned over violently and asked loudly, "Who!" ”

Outside the door, Wang Bo said anxiously: "Chief A, the salt drying field has been attacked!" ”

Liu Yan suddenly became angry, grabbed the Yanling knife with one hand, and then pushed the door and rushed out: "Gather your men and horses, and don't close the team at night, go to support with me, tell Wang Yue to immediately lead people to guard the fort, and at the same time let Chen Xun lead people to the military camp overnight to inspect!" ”

"Yes!"

Liu Yan was wearing a tie at this time, and he didn't have time to change his clothes, so he hurriedly stepped on his war horse and rushed to the south gate of Dapan Fort.

A moment later, the eighteen dun soldiers of Wang Bo's team, as well as the ten people led by Miao Shao and Xu Ming, were all ready to go and assembled outside the suspension bridge.

And Wang Yue also called up the eighteen dun soldiers under his command, and began to guard the south gate and the fort wall that was about to be completed, and many young people in the fort were also greeted by Wang Yue, and distributed wooden sticks and some weapons to help guard the inside and outside of Dapan Fort.

"Quick, go to the salt drying field!"

Liu Yan took the lead, and the night team led by Miao Shao and Xu Ming rode the horse first, and Wang Bo led eighteen dun troops to follow, all of them were fully armed, with spears, birds, and armor all ready, and rushed towards the salt drying field.

"There is no fighting!"

Liu Yan and the others rushed to the north of the salt drying field, Xu Ming frowned slightly and said, "Captain Jia, the battle is over!" ”

It has been half an hour since one of Zhang Yi's soldiers came back to report the news, and now everyone has arrived here, Liu Yan frowned tightly and said: "It seems that the enemy is by no means a thief, and his actions are not muddy at all!" ”

Miao Shao and Xu Ming thought so.

At this time, Liu Yan's first thought was Old Lady Xu, and said secretly: "Is it the old thing?" ”

Liu Yan first thwarted Mrs. Xu's attempt to merge the oil mill in Wanfu Oil Mill, and then dug up Liu Dayu's people, and let Liu Dayu return in vain and eat deflated, the two sides have already formed a grudge, with Mrs. Xu's reputation and temper, it is really possible to send someone over to make trouble.

"Let's go!"

Soon everyone came to the salt drying field, and at this time all the people in the salt drying field lived here, and many houses had been built around the salt drying field.

At this time, everyone was cleaning up the mess, and Liu Yan asked Miao Shao and Xu Ming to take people to patrol the surrounding area to prevent the enemy from going and returning. Then Liu Yan rode his horse to look around, only to see that the two salt pools were damaged in a few places, but fortunately, the impact was not great, just repair it a little, and a few more houses were ignited, although the fire was extinguished at this time, but these houses were no longer inhabitable and needed to be rebuilt.

"Captain A!"

Zhang Yi came with a tired face, Liu Yan turned over and dismounted, and asked, "Are you all right?" ”

Zhang Yi first pleaded guilty to Liu Yan, and after being helped up by Liu Yan, he said: "Captain A, at midnight today, a group of people suddenly appeared and began to smash and set fire to all parts of the salt drying field. The subordinates led people to fight fiercely with them for less than a moment, and the other party withdrew. ”

"What about the casualties?"

Zhang Yi's face darkened, and he said: "Three people were killed and three were injured in the subordinate team, and the rest of the young people were also injured more than a dozen people. Several houses were burned down at the salt drying plant, but fortunately the salt drying pond and aqueduct were not affected. ”

"Where is the salt in the storehouse?"

"I was robbed of a part, about more than 1,000 catties."

Liu Yan nodded, his face became more and more gloomy, he had never suffered such a big loss, was it Mrs. Xu's person?

"Can you catch a captive?"

Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "The enemy retreated quickly, but his subordinates killed four enemies, and when the enemy withdrew, he wanted to take these four corpses away, but his subordinates stopped them. ”

"Well done!"

At this moment, Wang Bo led the team to arrive, and Liu Yan immediately asked Wang Bo to strengthen the vigilance around him, and then drove Miao Shao and Xu Ming back with his troops.

Liu Yan said to Miao Shao: "You don't close the team at night to investigate the traces, see if you can find the traces of the enemy, and chase after them." ”

"Yes!"

Then Liu Yan said to Xu Ming: "You stay, check the four corpses, I want to know who dares to attack my Dapan Fort!" ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Yi guided the enemy, and the enemy was retreating westward, so Miao Shao led his troops to set off westward, preparing to search for traces of the enemy along the way.

Liu Yan took Xu Ming to a clearing where the bodies of the four enemies were placed side by side.

Xu Ming squatted down and looked at it carefully, and Liu Yan also squatted to the side to observe.

I saw that the four corpses were all strong men in their thirties and forties, with sturdy bodies and bronze faces, and their hands were covered with calluses. Liu Yan also noticed that the clothes of the four corpses were very distinctive, not the short fights often worn by the people at this time, but a kind of cloth clothes with patterns, and the style was different from the short fights.

"Captain A, if your subordinates are not mistaken, these four people are all Haikou!"

"Haikou?"

Liu Yan was taken aback and asked, "How can you see it?" ”

"Chief, please see, the calluses on the hands of these four people are all longitudinal stripes, which are caused by their perennial use of ropes. In addition, judging from the color and roughness of their skin, it is caused by begging for a living by the sea or at sea all year round. The most obvious thing is that the clothes on their bodies are often worn by the pirates in our Lingshanwei area, which is convenient for moving on the ship. ”

Liu Yan nodded and said, "I didn't expect that the salt drying field had just started to make a profit, so it attracted Haikou!" ”

It's just that Liu Yan can't be sure now whether the Haikou who came to attack the salt field tonight has anything to do with Old Lady Xu.

"It seems that we can only wait for Miao Shao to come back and see if we can find clues if we don't close the team at night."

Then Liu Yan said to Xu Ming: "Early tomorrow morning, you go to Wangjiazhuang and report the situation here to the management team!" ”

"Yes!"

This salt farm has 30% of Wang Weizhen's shares, since he has silver every month, if something happens to the salt factory, Wang Weizhen, the official, can't stay out of the matter.

In the early morning of the next day, Xu Ming rode a war horse to Wangjiazhuang to report the news, and it didn't take long for Miao Shao to lead the team back.

At this time, Liu Yan was cleaning up the mess in the salt drying field, Liu Yan sent someone to invite a doctor from Wangjiazhuang overnight, and now several casualties of Dunjun and Qingzhuang have been properly taken care of.

In addition, Liu Yan also made a promise in front of everyone in the salt drying field: the three dead Dun soldiers will each be given a pension of 20 taels of silver, and the rest of the wounded Dun soldiers will be given a pension of 5 taels to 15 taels of silver per person according to the severity of their injuries, and the injured young men will be given a pension ranging from 5 taels to 10 taels each.

All of them breathed a sigh of relief.

You must know that now all parts of the Ming Dynasty don't talk about the Dun army, even if there are those nine-sided elite casualties, the imperial court will not necessarily issue a pension, even if it is sent down, it is not much, and even the coffin money is not enough, which is also a reason for the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army at this time: Lao Tzu can not even want his life, but the imperial court is not willing to give a penny, who will go to the battlefield to fight for his life?

After doing this at this time, Liu Yan selected three people from among the young people in the salt drying field to join Zhang Yi's Dun Army, all three of whom had participated in the battle last night and were confirmed by Zhang Yi to be relatively brave young and strong.

Then Liu Yan said to Zhang Yi: "The production of the salt drying plant cannot be stopped, you have to be more careful during this time, and call Qingzhuang to be vigilant at night." From this day on, people will be sent to communicate with the fort every day, without interruption. ”

"Yes!"

Afterwards, Liu Yan led Wang Bo's team and the night team to return to Dapan Fort, preparing to wait for the news of Wang Weizhen, the captain of the team, in the fort.