In the small pavilion on the second floor of the Yanliu Building, Du Zhongxiao raised his glass and said to Bai Lian: "Thank you, supervisor, I won you a hundred yuan, just to catch the wind and wash the dust in the small ya." There is good wine and good food in this restaurant, so the supervisor can order it to eat. ”

Bai Lian had a black face, did not speak, and only lowered his head to eat vegetables. He couldn't figure out how his good horse couldn't compare to a horse that Du Zhongxiao bought casually. I even have some doubts that Du Zhongxiao is doing a trick today to win his own money.

But they didn't know that today Chen Qin and Zhe Jichang bought all the more than 200 horses of the little prince, and carefully selected those horses to send to Du Zhongxiao, the original intention was to let Du Zhongxiao choose a suitable horse to be a mount. Bai Lian is an ordinary good horse, how can he compare to such a pick. Chen Qin's eyes were poisonous, and he could see that Bai Lian's horse was more comfortable to ride, and it was okay to sprint for a short time, but it was definitely not good to run for a few miles.

Bai Lian is a servant, Du Zhongxiao treats him politely is already courtesy, and no one cares about the rest.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Zhi Jichang sighed: "When I first arrived in Tanglong Town this morning, I thought I had gone to the wrong place. I didn't expect this place to be so lively, there are many shops in the city, and pedestrians are weaving, even if it is not worse than Fuzhou. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "The shops in the city are businessmen in a few villages in the south, and those who have done well have come here to open shops with money from the yamen." If they don't make money, I'll be infamous for mistreating the people. Fortunately, God had mercy on me, and finally waited for the time when business was good. ”

These shops did not come out of thin air, they were all shops in Dongjiazhai, Yingtianwu and several large places in the military city, and those whose businesses had their own characteristics were selected to open branches here. The capital is a loan from the cabinet, and the yamen is free of rent for three months. Most shops are forced to open branches here, and if they end up losing all their money, Du Zhongxiao will inevitably be cursed by many people. Fortunately, the past two days have been off to a good start, and everyone is relieved.

lost a hundred yuan, and Bai Lian's mood was extremely bad. There was no one in the restaurant to talk to him, so he drank a few glasses of wine, ate a round belly, and then left. He has already seen that due to the limitations of his identity, Du Zhongxiao will not talk about cooperation, and it is time to go back.

As soon as Bai Lian left, Chen Qinlian drank a few glasses of wine, ate a few mouthfuls of food, got up and gave his hand: "Officials, Yanei, you do it, I still have to go to see the horse I bought today, and I will leave." ”

Du Zhongxiao knew that Chen Qin was measured, and he was afraid that he would disturb himself and Zhe Jichang to talk about things here, so he said to him with a smile: "It's hard today." You ask the store to prepare another one of the food on this table, and you take it back to share with your subordinates. ”

Chen Qin was overjoyed and thanked him again and again. Yanliulou is positioned as a high-end place, that is, Chen Qin, if he doesn't come with Du Zhongxiao, let alone his subordinates. Take such a table of wine and food back, and your subordinates will have face in front of them, and they will be able to blow it for a long time.

Watching Chen Qin leave, Zhi Jichang said: "I went to the horse market today to take a look, and there are really a lot of good horses in it. The surrounding households have been plundered repeatedly in recent years, where is there such a good horse? In my opinion, it must have been trafficked by a lot of people from the Northland. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, I asked someone to inquire, most of the horse dealers are from the Khitan three states in the north." In the past few years, the Khitan has used troops against the party every year, and has carved too much to the Tibetan households under its rule, and the people's hearts are unstable. They took this opportunity to give some benefits to the Fan households and reassure people's hearts. ”

Zhi Jichang sighed: "This is a good thing, we can make up some war horses, but it can't last long." In my opinion, when the Khitan retreats, this loophole will inevitably be plugged. It's a pity that in the northern steppe outside the mountains, there are hundreds of thousands of horses, but they refuse to sell them to us. Fuzhou has been using troops for many years, and the territory is withering, and there is also a lack of war horses. Xia Guo is not for sale, and there is only such a place to buy horses as Tanglong Town. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's man-made. The mountains in this area are continuous, and the Tibetans are moving back and forth, where can they be prevented? In the past, there were few merchants who traded horses across borders, and it was still unprofitable. Drove horses through the mountain roads in this area, brought their own grain, and sold them for twenty or thirty yuan when they arrived at the land, without great interest. The trade route is open, as long as there is a place to live on the road, there is no forage to feed the horses, and the price is higher, are you afraid that no one will sell horses? ”

Zhi Jichang shook his head: "I'm afraid it's difficult." The Khitan people are also tightly controlled, and it is not easy to sell horses. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and didn't argue with Ji Chang. Why didn't anyone sell horses before? From the horse-producing land of the Khitan to the Volcanic Army, there are hundreds of miles away, because they are all abandoned by the Great Song Dynasty, sparsely populated, and the cost of selling horses is too high. The fewer horses traded, the easier it was to find a large number of horses crossing the border, and the Khitan did not have much trouble defending it. If the trade route is open and the cost on the road is reduced, it will be difficult to say. In the past, when horses were sold, they had to compete with local horses in the area, and they couldn't sell them at a high price. Du Zhongxiao used various means to collect local horses and raise the price of horses, which is also a way.

After drinking a few glasses of wine, Zhi Jichang said again: "Since Fengzhou was attacked by Western thieves, all the fortresses have been abolished. The brother intends to rebuild Baoning Village and use Tanglong Town as horns. It's just that money and materials are not enough, and we have to think about it in the long run. These walled forts have always been guarded by Tibetan officials, and now there are no candidates. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Here in Tanglong Town, according to the road is closer to the Volcano Army, the imperial court and the Economic Strategy Division are temporarily under the Volcano Army. Fuzhou to get here, or take the Baode Army to the Volcano Army, or take the Anfeng Village to cross the river to the Volcano Army and then come here. There are few unoccupied households in the Fengzhou area, so I don't care about it for the time being. Since they negotiated peace with Xia Guo, they fought with the Khitan again, and it couldn't end in a few years. They fight, and we're safe here. It took a few years to carefully manage this area, there were more households, there was enough money and food, and then the fortress was rebuilt. This matter is not urgent, and it should be simmered slowly. ”

For Tanglong Town, the mentality of the folded family is a little complicated. From Toyosu to here, it was originally their family's sphere of influence. Since the fall of Toyozhou, this place has nothing to do with the folding family. In the three prefectures of Linfeng Prefecture, the residents are mainly party members, and the Zhejia family is one of the majority of the party items, and many of the party members who have a feud with Tuoba and do not belong to Yuan Hao are obeyed by their orders. Before the party rebellion, the imperial court had already begun to de-feudal here, and the leaders of the previous generations of the family were not good, and the power was slowly taken back by the imperial court. It wasn't until Yuan Hao rebelled and Ji Min rose that he slowly stabilized. Intellectually, the people of the Zhe family also knew that the imperial court would not allow their family to expand its sphere of influence, but they were still a little uncomfortable when they were completely out of control.

The people of the Zhejia family proposed to rebuild Toyoshu and its affiliated fortresses, which meant to extend their influence here again. But they also knew very well that they could do nothing without the support of the imperial court. And the imperial court came forward, I was afraid that it would not be a feudal town, so I mentioned it as a successor.

Du Zhongxiao also has an identity as a judge of the Economic Strategy Division, and as soon as he said that he meant the Economic Strategy Division, he closed his mouth and stopped mentioning it.

The two talked about the surrounding situation for a while, and then said: "A few months ago, the Zhijun went to the capital to demonstrate muskets and artillery, and the imperial court attached great importance to it. Xiangzhou made some of the same, and some were sent to Fuzhou. It's just that this thing is different from the previous weapons, and everyone doesn't know how to use it. If the Zhijun can send someone who is familiar with this thing to teach him, he will be grateful. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "I am not the one who leads the troops, and I am not familiar with the military formation, so this matter is a little difficult to handle." Tomorrow, when I saw Zhang's deployment, he previously occupied Tanglong Town, and used muskets and artillery to repel the Khitans here, and he led the troops. It would be best for him to send someone to Fuzhou. ”

Zhang Qi was originally from Fuzhou, and at this time, he was deployed on the same Linfu Road as Zhe Jimin, and was in charge of the soldiers and horses. In fact, the newly made muskets and artillery should be sent to Zhang Qi's army. However, the reputation of the Zhe family on Linfu Road was too high, and those muskets and artillery were sent to Zhi Jimin.

From the distribution of muskets and artillery, Du Zhongxiao could see that the imperial court still did not recognize the power of this weapon, and only used it as a strengthened version of the bow and crossbow. The guns were not used intensively to train the new army, but were scattered to the front line and used to defend the city.

Xiangzhou iron production accounted for more than half of the world, and Tao 17 went there after the year, and made up a junior official who was borrowed from three classes to do technical guidance. With the production capacity there, it is easy to organize a large army, and it is a pity to use it in such a dispersed way. The Volcano Army also sent some, but it was not as good as making their own. Du Zhongxiao can only continue to manufacture and train the township soldiers.