The change in the situation made Ouyang Xuan worried. At this time, in November 1258, Möngke Khan had led an army of 40,000 into Lizhou, and Niu Ling also followed the Yangtze River to Chongqing after the Battle of Mahu River. Although the current historical trend is the same as his memory, he does not know how his arrival and the birth of the Thunderbolt Army will change the original historical direction. Worried about the future of the anti-Mongolian cause, he decided to take a risk to the Diaoyu City. At present, various undertakings under the rule of the Thunderbolt Army are being carried out in a busy and chaotic manner, and with the natural dangers of the Jinma River and the Nanhe River, the Chengdu Mongolian Army, which is weak in naval strength, does not dare to attack on a large scale at all. It's just that before he leaves, he still has a few things to arrange for both business and the future development of the Thunderbolts. While agriculture and food were fundamental, and industry was the foundation of the Thunderbolts' rise, commerce and trade could bring much-needed supplies and population, as well as intelligence information.

As one of the veterans of the Perak Army, Zhu Zhuozi was really anxious when he saw that the army had achieved outstanding results and the undertakings of various departments were thriving, but the commerce and trade in charge of him was tepid. In fact, Ouyang Xuan's heart was more anxious than him, because the current territory of the Thunderbolt Army was so small that its resources were limited, which seriously limited the development of industry. At present, the Thunderbolt army, relying on artillery fortresses and naval forces, has more than enough to defend and not enough to attack, and is simply unable to expand territory on a large scale. The Mongol army, having suffered the loss of the fortified fortress, also began to build forts on the east bank of the Jinma River, and the Thunderbolt artillery could certainly deal with these forts, but how to deal with the cavalry charge during the march was a headache. There is also the issue of the cost of war, after all, the cost of ammunition is not low. Since there are no urgently needed materials on his own territory, he can only obtain them from the outside world through commerce. For the future development of commerce and trade, Ouyang Xuan, Zhu Zhuozi and Qian Laoda, who are now the vice ministers of the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, have drawn up three mature business routes and three business routes to be developed after several discussions.

The first mature business route is in the direction of Jiading Mansion and Xuzhou. Although Yu Xing was unhappy with the Thunderbolt Army, his father and son were extremely greedy for money and would never do such a thing as blocking business. According to the regulations of the Southern Song Dynasty, the leading generals were not allowed to meddle in finance and taxation, but should be handled by special financial and taxation officials, but the war was still frequent, and the imperial court's governance system and system in Sichuan had long been broken, especially in western Sichuan, including Jiading Mansion and Chongqing Mansion, there is no longer a financial and taxation agency such as salt and iron supervision and transfer envoys. On the one hand, very few officials from other places are willing to come to take up their posts, after all, such fat positions are certainly not as important as life; On the other hand, the leading generals in various parts of central Sichuan have been in a state of semi-separation, such as Yu Xing, who has been the prefect for many years, and Jiading has long been regarded as his private property, and foreign officials who are not in cahoots with him have either died violently or disappeared without explanation. The collected business taxes will go into his pocket, how can Yu Xing not support it.

The second mature route is the southern line of the Tea Horse Road, that is, in the direction of Dajian Furnace. Although this route has to pass through Ya, Li, Diao, Yan and other prefectures, the mountain road is high and the road is long, but the Qian family has been operating here for many years, and Ze Yang is the agent, so it is most valued by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. Qian Bao was in charge of this route, and he would focus on the caravan's nitrate mines in Lizhou, followed by the purchase of war horses, and the trading of other commodities was not the most important. In order to ensure the safety of the nitrate mine, Ouyang Xuan even authorized Qian Bao to recruit three companies of soldiers locally. As for the safety of the two states of Diao and Iwa, and even to the grassland, Zelang's men and horses are responsible for the safety. Recently, Zelang annexed a steppe tribe, and formed an alliance with a dozen nearby villages through economic and trade relations, and could mobilize thousands of native soldiers in the event of a war.

The third mature route is the northern line of the Tea Horse Road, which is in the direction of Wei and Mao. After the Perak army took Guan Kou Village, the Mongolian army carried out several small-scale harassments, but they were all bombarded by the naval artillery. In order to strengthen the Guankou Village, Yu Zhu led people to work day and night, and did not stop work even during the autumn harvest. After the completion of the Guankou Village equipped with artillery, five companies of the garrison brigade were stationed, and there was fire support from naval warships in the river, which was already a fortress with defensive strength not inferior to Hengyuan Fort. After the autumn harvest, people from Weimao and Weimao came to buy salt, tea, farm tools, cloth and other daily necessities. Although there are also trails in the northwest mountainous areas of Pengzhou and Han Prefectures that connect with these two states, it is extremely difficult and difficult to travel, and it is convenient and economical to go to Guankou Village.

For the two states, surrendering the Mongols was a need for survival, and trading with the Thunderbolts was a need for life, and there was no conflict between the two. As for the Perak Army, they are not excluded from those who come to trade in Wei and Mao, after all, there are many alpine meadows in the two states, raising horses and mules that the Perak Army urgently needs. Moreover, because of the large number of mountains and valleys, these two states were not slaughtered by the Mongol army, on the contrary, there was an influx of many people, and the demand for goods was large, and the profits were considerable. Of course, if it was just to do business, Zhu Zhuozi and the others only needed to sit and wait in Guankou Village, but Ouyang Xuan instructed the caravan to enter the two states to do business, one was because of the need to collect intelligence to prevent the Mongolian army from sneaking attack; On the other hand, although these two states are mixed places of Tibetan and Han people, they are deeply influenced by Han culture, and although they surrendered to Mongolia, their hearts are towards Han land. For example, Uncle Xie Fang, the prime minister who has just stepped down, is a native of Taoping, Weizhou, and when the time is right, he can strive for the return of the two states.

The three trade routes to be developed are along the Yangtze River, the Yiren tribe and the direction of Dali. Although the Southern Song Dynasty was militarily weak and the regime was corrupt, its economy and culture were extremely developed, and there was no one else since ancient times. Especially on the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, the important cities in Sichuan are Xuzhou, Luzhou, Chongqing, Fuzhou, out of the Three Gorges is the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain, and famous cities along the coast are everywhere, and you can also go straight to the richest place in this era - Lin'an.

The Yiren tribe is located in the southeast of Yazhou and Jiading Province, which is the Liangshan area in later generations. This is a wild area with high mountains and dangerous roads, and it is still in the stage of slash-and-burn civilization. From the point of view of agricultural civilization, there is no development value here, so although it is located between the Dali Kingdom and the Southern Song Dynasty, the two countries have no interest in it, and it has become a buffer zone between the two countries. There are many large and small tribes here - the Baosai Department, the False Hate Department, the Mahu Department, the Yi Niang Department, and the Two Forest Departments..... The Yiren tribes attacked each other, and the family branches within the tribe also killed each other. Although the demand for Han Chinese goods here is to the point of hunger and thirst, most people are so poor that they can't even eat enough to buy them. The caravan entered here with only one end - people were killed and goods were robbed. Ouyang Xuan insisted on exploring such a savage place because he knew that the mountains here contained too many good things.

The direction of Dali is more important. On the one hand, it is necessary for security, after the Mongols destroyed the Dali Kingdom, they sent the Wuliang Hatai Jingstrateg, known as the god of war, who frequently invaded Sichuan from Shimen Pass south of Xuzhou, and the Thunderbolt army needed intelligence from the direction of Dali, on the other hand, because of mineral resources. Ouyang Xuan knew that the famous Dongchuan Copper Mine and Panzhihua Iron Mine in later generations were both in Dali.

By opening up these three routes, not only can we obtain horses, copper mines, and other strategic materials, but we can also recruit a large number of laborers and soldiers. With the expansion of the Thunderbolt Army, a large number of laborers were required for grain cultivation and industrial and mining industries, and there was not one in ten people in western Sichuan who had survived the war. Of course, it is necessary to encourage childbearing, but this kind of distant water cannot solve the immediate thirst of the current labor shortage. Of course, what Ouyang Xuan hopes is to attract not only ordinary laborers, but also talents from all walks of life, including soldiers. You must know that a large part of the elite mountain combat troops under Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms, the "Wudang Flying Army", came from the above-mentioned areas.