After Liu Yan and the others returned to Dapanbao, they summoned several small flag officials to the General Flag Office to discuss matters, and the three principals of Wang Yunhe, Chen Jiang, and Tan Xiaoda were also invited.

Liu Yan first informed everyone of the situation of this trip to the ancient town, and then said: "From today on, the salt drying field and the military tun must be strictly guarded to prevent the surprise attack of the Song family's horses. Xu Ming, the small flag officer, was in charge of the liaison between various places, and if the flag was not collected at night, he had to arrange manpower in the military tun and the salt drying field, and he had to deliver news to the fort at noon every day. ”

"Yes!"

Then Liu Yan said to Wang Yunhe and Chen Jiangshi: "During this time, the soap workshop must make every effort to supply the management team, and at the same time, two percent of the soap produced in each batch should be stored in the warehouse. ”

"Yes."

"As for the winery, first sell the pot wine produced to the surrounding Huoludun and Tunpu, or you can send someone to contact the merchants in front of the Qianhu Office in Xiahe Village, and if you can't sell it for a while, you will store it in the warehouse first, so you don't have to rush for a while."

Although Wang Yunhe usually likes to smile and giggle with Liu Yan, but on formal occasions such as deliberations, he is very serious, and after listening to Liu Yan's instructions, he got up and gave a blessing and said: "Don't worry, the wine shop will be done." ”

Liu Yan nodded, and said to Tan Xiaoda: "Chief Tan, this time I went to the Guzhen Inspection Division, I purchased a large amount of iron and coal, and the Firearms Supervision Department should ensure the production of armaments, and hoard birds, spears, and armor as much as possible, in addition to gunpowder and paper shells, the better." I believe that it will not be long before these reserves can come in handy. ”

Tan Xiaoda said with some surprise: "Chief A, now the output of the Firearms Supervision Office is already very high, and the output in a month is hundreds of bird guns, thirty pairs of armor, two hundred spears, and the rest of the gunpowder and paper shell bullets are even more, do you want to increase production?" ”

Liu Yan thought for a while and said: "Now there are a lot of weapons stored in the arsenal, and the Firearms Supervision Office will first stabilize the existing output, and store as much as possible, I will be of great use." ”

"Yes."

Then Zhang Yi, the little flag officer, said: "Chief Qiqi, there is something to be reported by his subordinates. ”

"Oh?"

Liu Yan asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Zhang Yi said: "Yesterday, my subordinates received a letter from Chu Yunfei, a salt lord, and this Chu Yunfei wanted his subordinates to introduce him, it seems that he wanted to take refuge in Chief A and join us in Dapanbao." ”

Liu Yan said with a smile: "Join in? This Chu Yun didn't think that we were the king of the mountain. ”

The crowd laughed.

Zhang Yi took out the letter and handed it to Liu Yan, and then said with a smile: "Please take a look at it, in the opinion of his subordinates, that Chu Yunfei should not be able to do it, so he wants to take refuge in us." ”

Liu Yan took the letter and read it, and understood the cause and effect of the matter.

It turned out that after Chu Yunfei rebuilt his own private salt team, he also flourished for a while by selling the sea salt of Dapanbao, but now Lingshanwei has begun to vigorously clean up the illegal salt dealers in various places, and the guards everywhere continue to attack, and more than a dozen illegal salt dealers have been surrounded and suppressed, and Chu Yunfei's situation has also become very dangerous.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Chu Yunfei wanted to take refuge in Liu Yan, and from then on he concentrated on helping Liu Yan sell salt, and didn't want to live the hard life of having today and no tomorrow before.

Liu Yan sighed, the reason why Lingshanwei is now vigorously cracking down on illicit salt dealers in various places is because the generals of the guards in various places are themselves reselling illicit salt!

For example, the sea salt produced in Dapanbao, after Chu Yunfei made a move, was not directly distributed to ordinary military households, but most of them were resold to hundreds and thousands of households in various places, and then these officers resold it to get a profit.

Now these hundreds and thousands of households are definitely not satisfied with the identity of middlemen, so they began to go into battle shirtless, directly killing all the illegal salt dealers in Lingshanwei and replacing them themselves, so that they can obtain greater benefits.

So Liu Yan said: "Our cooperation with Chu Yunfei was not bad before, so if you can help, you can help." In this way, you send someone to contact Chu Yunfei, and say that I want to see him, and let Chu Yunfei come to Dapanbao. ”

"Yes."

In the end, Liu Yan instructed everyone to cheer up, the trade route of the Guzhen Inspection Division will not be interrupted for too long, and he will find a way to open it as soon as possible.

Two days later, when Wang Yue, the small flag officer, led his troops to inspect the periphery of Dapanbao, he intercepted a fast horse carrying a Song character and carrying a flag, and then searched for a letter from this person's body.

"Captain A!"

Wang Yue shouted loudly as soon as he entered the door, Liu Yan frowned slightly in the main hall, greeted him and asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"War book, the Song family sent someone to send a war book!"

Liu Yan was slightly stunned, and then said with a dumb smile: "When is this, the Song family is still doing this, do they still want the main generals of the two armies to fight alone?" ”

Wang Yue handed the letter to Liu Yan and said, "Chief Jia, don't take it lightly, the Song family must not be underestimated, maybe they are planning some conspiracy!" ”

"Not for sure, for sure!"

Liu Yan opened the letter as he spoke, only to see that the envelope read: Liu Yan, the commander of the general banner of Dapanbao, personally opened it, and below it were two big battle letters.

After opening it, I saw that the content in my heart probably meant: Liu Yan didn't know how to refuse the Song family's conditions, and injured the Song family's people, which is a capital crime. However, Song Jiannian is the chief of the flag officer in Liu Yan after all, and he has a certain identity, so he disdains to use assassination and other means. So the Song family proposed to make an appointment to fight three days later, and the location was set outside Xizhuang Tun under the jurisdiction of the Guzhen Inspection Department.

If Liu Yan didn't dare to lead his troops to the appointment, then the Song family would make the matter public, making Liu Yan lose face, and at the same time, they would also send people to intercept the cargo team of Dapanbao everywhere, and take revenge on anyone who dared to do business with Dapanbao!

After reading it, Liu Yan sneered and put the letter on the table, and Wang Yue on the side asked: "Captain A, do we need to report this matter to the management team, after all, we have a part of the management team in our business, and if such a big thing happens, the management team can't stay out of it, at least we can talk to the Song family." ”

"Circling?"

Liu Yan said: "What is there to deal with? The Song family is clearly going to lure out the men and horses of our Dapan Fort, and then annihilate them in Xitunzhuang in one fell swoop. If there are no more people and horses, then our soap workshop, salt drying field and wine shop will naturally belong to others. ”

"As for the management team, I think it's also in vain, he and Song Patrol are both officials of a hundred households, and no one can help anyone, I guess the management team will not fight to the death for us. Maybe, when we are really defeated, the master of the management team may still carve up our industry with Song Inspector! ”

Wang Yue had an incredible expression on his face, as if Liu Yan was talking about a joke.

Liu Yan said very seriously: "You remember: there are only interests in officialdom, no friends. The captain of the management team is good to us, just because our Dapan Fort can bring him silver, that's all. So don't think about relying on the management team to do everything, it's better to ask for others than for yourself. ”

"What does the captain mean, going to the appointment?"

Liu Yan sneered and said, "Of course! The reason why the Song family is so rampant is not because of those hundreds of wanderers and dozens of family members? Lao Tzu wiped out the Song family's men and horses in a battle, see what other means Song Long and Song Patrol have! ”

"But the location is in Xitunzhuang, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ancient Town Inspection Division, and my subordinates are worried that there will be an ambush."

Liu Yan knew the location of Xitunzhuang, the terrain over there was not too complicated, the front and back were flat, and there were no rivers, woods and other terrain around, so it was impossible for the Song family's men and horses to set up an ambush.

The only place in Xitunzhuang that is beneficial to the Song family is that it is very close to the Ancient Town Inspection Division, only a dozen miles away.

However, Xitunzhuang is dozens of miles away from Dapanbao, and Liu Yan and others are fighting away from home, once they occupy an unfavorable position, even retreat is a problem.

"There shouldn't be an ambush or something, this time it's mostly a head-to-head battle."

Then Liu Yan asked Wang Yue to call all the small flag officers and deploy a combat strategy himself. At the same time, Liu Yan asked Zhang Yi to inform Zhang Yi and bring Chu Yunfei with him to participate in the military meeting.

Nearly two hours later, all six small flag officers rushed to the General Flag Office, and Chu Yunfei also hurried over after receiving the news, and the last one rushed to the General Flag Office.

Liu Yan first handed the battle book to everyone to circulate, and then said: "I have decided to go to the appointment, the messenger sent by the Song family has been sent back by me, and three days later, there will be a bloody battle in Xitunzhuang!" ”

As soon as these words came out, Chen Xun and the others suddenly had a high fighting spirit, and the six of them all asked for battle. Chu Yunfei was also thoughtful, and then clenched his fists and said: "Thanks to Mr. Liu's refusal, if Mr. Liu is willing to take in Chu, then Mr. Chu and his more than seventy brothers are all driven by Mr. Liu, even if they die, there is no difference!" ”

Chen Xun and the other six people were taken aback when they heard this, but Liu Yan laughed and grabbed Chu Yunfei's hand and said, "With the help of Chu's family, I, Liu Yan, can be said to be like a tiger with wings!" ”

So Liu Yan pulled Chu Yunfei to sit down, and then said loudly: "Since the Chu family is willing to join our Dapanbao, then I, Liu Yan, will agree to come down today, from today on, the Chu family is the head of the salt plant, and all matters such as the production and sales of the salt field are the master of the Chu family!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked, and Chu Yunfei was even more excited to stand up and immediately thank him.

Then Liu Yan told everyone about going to the appointment, and said: "This time, I decided to dispatch the main force of our Dapan Fort to the appointment, but in order to prevent the Song family from sneaking attack, it is naturally impossible for us to dispatch all of them, so I thought about it for a while and decided to deploy it like this." ”

"Now that it is frozen, all the military households on the Juntun side have been withdrawn to the fort, so there is no need for people to be stationed in the Juntun for the time being, even if the Song family really sends people over to sabotage, we can also complete the repair of the water conservancy facilities before next year's spring ploughing."

"Now there are only two places that need to be garrisoned: the salt pan and the Dapan fort."

Liu Yan looked at everyone and said, "On the side of Dapan Fort, Chen Xun, a small flag officer, will lead his troops to garrison, and recruit the troops in the fort to assist in the defense. ”

Chen Xun was a little dejected and clenched his fists to take his life.

Liu Yan then looked at Chu Yunfei and said, "As for the salt drying field, how about asking Brother Chu to lead his troops to garrison?" ”

Chu Yun naturally understood the meaning of Natou's name, and immediately clasped his fists and said: "Please rest assured, Captain A, his subordinates and more than 70 brothers must guard the salt drying field." Although those brothers of mine are not as good as the soldiers of our Dapan Fort, they are all men who have seen blood, and if the Song family really dares to come to sneak attack, they will definitely regret it! ”

"Good!"

Liu Yan then said: "In addition, the small flag officials Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Wang Yue, Xu Ming, and Miao Shaobu will all go to Xitunzhuang with me to make an appointment, and they will leave early tomorrow morning, and there must be no mistake!" ”

On the same day, the soldiers of the Dun Army began to prepare intensively, Zhao Min took the soldiers and people to replenish dry food and supplies for the soldiers of the various departments, Tan Xiaoda took the craftsmen of the Firearms Supervision Office to prepare troops for the soldiers of the various departments, and the scene of Dapanbao was busy.

At this moment, Wang Yunhe came to the General Banner Hall and found Liu Yan, his face was full of worry, and his eyes were slightly red and said: "This time Liu Zongqi is in danger, you must be careful, if something can be done, you will do it, once you can't do it, you must come back safely, in order to have a future effect!" ”

Liu Yan was moved in his heart, nodded, and then took Wang Yunhe in his arms.

"I'll be back safely, wait for me here!"