In mid-September, the envoys of the Yan Dynasty quietly arrived.

Lu Shen did not come forward, and all the negotiations were completed by Lin Jie and several elders of the gang, not because he wanted to be lazy, but because he deliberately downplayed his status in the eyes of the Seven Star Gang.

Now that the marriage is decided, the bond between him and the Seven Stars Gang is unbreakable, and since this is going to be an independent force in the future, it is in line with his dormant strategy to keep a low profile as much as possible. For example, when he asks for benefits for the Seven Star Army in the future, he can speak confidently from a relatively fair position, without being suspected of motives at every turn.

The envoy of the Yan Dynasty under the banner of Zhao'an, put forward a very simple request, one is that the activity area of the Seven Star Gang must not be expanded, and can only be maintained within the scope of Baotai Mountain, whether it is to enter Henan Road to the west or Dongyang Road to the south, it is an unacceptable move for the Yan Dynasty court.

The second is that the Seven Star Army returned to the imperial court and accepted the jurisdiction of the Privy Council of the Yan Dynasty.

On this basis, the Yan Dynasty allowed the existence of the Seven Star Gang and the army, and could give a part of the grain and grass, and at the same time relax the blockade of the Baotai Mountain area. If the Seven Star Gang does not accept it, the Yan army will block the surrounding traffic arteries, and may send a large army into the mountains at any time to encircle and suppress them.

Of course, the last sentence is a common intimidation method in negotiations, and if the Yan Dynasty really had that spare strength, it would not send an envoy to the mountains for peace talks.

Lin Jie knew this, so he put forward several conditions-for-tat.

The Seven Star Army existed in the form of a militia group, and would not leave the confines of Baotai Mountain to harass other areas, nominally submitting to the Privy Council of the Yan Dynasty.

The Yan army must lift the blockade on the periphery of Baotai Mountain, and at the same time compensate the Seven Star Gang for the losses caused by this war, such as silver taels, grain and grass, iron tools, and various daily necessities.

The envoy of the Yan Dynasty naturally couldn't make a decision, and after two days of talking, he left and left. He needed to go back and ask the big guys in the DPRK for instructions, and Lin Jie said that there was a shortage of food in the mountains, and if there was no exact reply within half a month, the Seven Star Army might have to take the initiative to look for food outside.

Although the peace talks were not particularly smooth, it was foreseeable that the Yan Dynasty would inevitably agree to the conditions put forward by Lin Jie, because they did not have much choice at the moment, the Southern Qi border army was ready to move, and the Jing Dynasty was attacking the Zhao State and had no time to look south.

Lu Shen secretly followed the progress of the peace talks, and at the same time used this time to lay a solid foundation for the development of the Seven Star Gang.

The construction of the base area cannot be achieved overnight, although the Seven Star Gang has gained a firm foothold through the first battle of the mountain, it still needs to invest a lot of effort in the next step to gradually transform a reckless gang into a solid territory.

The focus is on the construction of the system for defending the walled fortress.

Lu Shen is already very familiar with the terrain here, and can basically count the mountains, rivers and various main roads with his eyes closed, and under his command and coordination, tens of thousands of gangs began to build in full swing.

Before construction, the internal structure of the Seven Stars Gang must be optimized.

"Brothers, with the permission of the gang leader and after consultation with the hall masters, we have decided to make some adjustments to the various halls and rudders in the gang."

In the spacious and bright Juyi Hall, dozens of gang leaders gathered together, Lin Jie naturally stood on the throne of the gang leader, there was a large suspended wooden board on his side, and Lu Shen stood next to him and talked to everyone.

"Lin Tang is still headed by Brother Ran, who is mainly responsible for our Seven Star Gang's properties outside and money exchanges."

"The Yin Hall is still headed by Brother Qi, and the internal reorganization is divided into two places, one is located in Luocheng, Yanguohe, and the other is located in Nanjing, Jing Dynasty, focusing on spying on the movements of Qing Yugong, the marshal of the Yan Kingdom Hall and the Southern Courtyard of the Jing Dynasty."

Ran Xuanzhi and Qi Lianfu bowed.

Lu Shen looked at Dong Mian, who had an honest expression, and said with a smile: "From today on, Shantang is responsible for internal construction and material management, and there is Brother Lao Dong." ”

Dong Mian said with a straight face: "Brother Lu, please rest assured, my old Dong will definitely work hard." ”

Lu Shen nodded, and said: "The Wind Hall, the Fire Hall and the Lei Hall are merged, and the name of the Wind Hall is retained, and the Gang Rules and Rewards and Punishments and the General Village Guards are in charge alone. ”

No one doubts Lin Xi's status, even if she is Lin Jie's most beloved eldest daughter, just because she has worked hard for the Seven Star Gang outside over the years, as well as countless times for the Seven Star Gang, coupled with her more and more exquisite martial arts now, no one can shake her status in the gang.

Even if Lin Jie is in retreat now and passes the position of gang leader to Lin Xi, with the support of the powerful factions such as Dong Mian and Qi Lianfu, there will be no trouble in the gang.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Lu Shen continued: "At present, the Seven Star Army only needs to maintain the structure of 500 cavalry and 3,000 infantry troops, which are led by the gang leader and the eldest lady, and do not interfere with each other with the four halls of wind, forest, mountain, and yin. These 3,500 people cannot leave work for the time being, and while maintaining training, we must also work hard to build our territory. After all, they are all strong young men in their twenties and thirties, and they can't waste any effort. ”

The room resounded with light-hearted laughter.

Lu Shen also smiled, turned around and drew a dot on the white cloth covered with wooden boards, marked the word "Zongzhai", and said gently: "Brothers, this is where we are now, there are three sub-villages in the west and four sub-villages in the south. On the surface, this is a complete and layered defense system, but in reality it is not very useful because we do not have enough troops to defend it. ”

After these words came out, the faces of several down-and-out literati in the corner were quite embarrassed.

The first to bear the brunt is Shi Haisheng.

Although he is quite a poor literati's hypocrisy, he does have some real talent, at least the construction of those sub-villages is completely in accordance with the regulations of the ancient books, and now he is criticized by Lu Shen as worthless, how can he do nothing.

However, now Lu Shen's status in the Seven Stars Gang is in full swing, and he has become Lin Jie's fast son-in-law, and he only held a marriage ceremony a few days ago, which was recognized by everyone in the gang from top to bottom, and how can he, a staff member who eats with food, be compared, even if the other party points at his nose and scolds his mother, he has to respond with a smile.

Lu Shen naturally noticed this person's embarrassed expression, and changed his words: "Of course, I'm not saying that these sub-villages are not well built, but there are too many of them, and I only saw that the terrain was dangerous to control traffic, but I didn't consider the actual demand, and I made the mistake of talking on paper." Having said that, there is something remarkable about these cottages themselves. ”

Shi Haisheng raised his head sharply when he heard this, and a bright color appeared in his eyes.

Lu Shen smiled: "The information obtained from the field investigation, coupled with our current staff scale, in fact, we only need the main village and two sub-villages. Wushanzhai in the west and Poyun Village in the south, and the total village three-legged, both have the shelter of the terrain and danger, and can support each other in a relatively short period of time, the three villages are one, easy to defend and difficult to attack. ”

Lin Jie interjected: "You mean, give up the other sub-villages, and rebuild and strengthen these three villages?" ”

"Yes, Master."

Lu Shen bowed slightly, then looked at Shi Haisheng and said: "Mr. Shi, you are responsible for planning and supervising this matter, and the middle brother is responsible for implementation, I don't know if you have confidence?" ”

The surprise came too quickly, Shi Haisheng's head was a little dizzy, he got up slowly, and said worriedly: "Student...... The students are not talented, and they promise to live up to the entrustment of the helper and Brother Lu. ”

Lu Shen smiled faintly and said solemnly: "Give Ling half a year, remember to use the specifications of building a military city, and the scale of the two sub-villages does not need to be too large, they must be strong and solid enough." ”

Shi Haisheng sobered up a little, bowed and said, "The student will definitely do his best to serve the death!" ”

After this meeting, the young and strong laborers of the Seven Star Gang began a vigorous construction campaign.

Lin Jie and the elders of the gang were mainly responsible for the negotiations with the Yan Dynasty, and after several consecutive back-and-forths, they finally reached an agreement on the general direction.

The Seven Star Army accepted the recruitment of the Yan State Government and became a militia independent of the Yan Army sequence, and the activity area of the Seven Star Gang was limited to the west of Henan Road and the north of Dongyang Road.

Lin Jie got the official position of a regimental training envoy, and he played with the official seal for a while, and then threw it to the corner.

The Yan army slightly relaxed the blockade on the periphery of Baotai Mountain, acquiescing in allowing the Seven Star Gang to communicate with the outside world through the west and south directions, and at the same time compensating a part of the grain and grass in exchange for the Seven Star Army staying in the mountain honestly.

Ran Xuanzhi and Qi Lianfu were busy, and Dong Mian took nearly 10,000 laborers to cooperate with Shi Haisheng to repair the main village and the two sub-villages.

Although it is late autumn, the mountains are full of life.

One afternoon, Lu Shen led the farmers and craftsmen in the gang to study the method of improving farming, and he was dry but quite relieved, and in a blink of an eye, he saw Lin Xi and Li Chengen appear not far away.

He said to the simple mountain people, and turned and walked over there.

"Senior sister."

Lu Shen greeted with a smile.

Lin Xi looked at the dirt on his body, stepped forward to help him dust it, and said softly, "There is a letter from the south." ”

Lu Shen was slightly stunned, the smile on his face faded in an instant, and he immediately raised his eyes to look at Li Chengen, who said respectfully: "Young Master, Governor Xiao's reply has arrived." ”

"Come on."

"According to the young master's proposal, the Huaizhou army did not launch the Northern Expedition offensive for the time being, but now that the pre-war preparations have been completed, Governor Xiao asked the young master to return to Huaizhou immediately. The route is diagonally through the pseudo-Yan Dongyang Road, the warp weaving department and our family's manpower have been fully arranged, and the young master only needs half a month at most to arrive safely in Huaizhou to secure the defense line. ”

"Okay, I see. You go and inform the senior so that the others are ready to go. ”

Lee Seung-eun took the order and left.

Lu Shen turned his head to look at Lin Xi and didn't speak for a long time.

(End of chapter)