The Yellow River turns south from the bottom of Yinshan Mountain, passes through the hilly Loess Plateau, and cuts out deep valleys with its tributaries. Entering the volcanic army, the river water becomes smooth, turning around and alluvializes a large area of ​​plain land of river valleys. The big river flows out from the valley, and the place where the river flows south and turns west is Dongjiazhai. Here, the throat of the valley is blocked from the north, and the river to the west becomes smooth, which is the Yellow River Ferry.

This is the center of the vast area of ​​nearly a hundred miles around the volcanic arms control. It is much larger than Xiongyong Village, and there are also households outside the village.

Liang Sheng from Zhizhai received a report and welcomed him out of the village early and lined up to welcome the arrival of the new Zhizhai Army.

When they arrived at the village hall, Du Zhongxiao sat in the middle, and Liang Sheng and his generals visited them one by one.

After the ceremony, Liang Shengdao said: "It was not early, and the officials prepared a banquet in Qingshan Tower outside the village to welcome the army. The leaders of the foreign tribe who happened to be in the village were happy when they heard that the new army was coming and were waiting there to pay their respects."

Du Zhongxiao was about to see the situation in this area and nodded in agreement. There were mountains around Dongjiazhai, and there was a ferry crossing across the river. The road opposite the river led directly to Tanglong Town, and to the north there were roads leading to Khitanning Border Prefecture, which was a key place. This area was all Han people living on flat land, and there were large and small foreign tribes in the mountains, mainly Dangxiang people. Dangxiang people were widely distributed, and they were all mature foreigners, most of which relied on the Khitan and the Song Dynasty. The new Yuanhao regime was not attractive to them.

The Song Dynasty was a country of Han people, the Khitans were a country of Khitans, and Dangxiang belonged to Dangxiang people, but for the people in the border areas of the Three Kingdoms, the division was not so clear. Most of them were divided into three parties based on historical and practical interests. The Hedong Road area is bounded by the Yellow River, west and north of the Yellow River, and the residents are mainly Dangxiang people. For example, the three prefectures of Linfeng Prefecture in Hexi, from the leader of the Zhe family to the people below, most of them were Dangxiang people. However, these Dangxiang people were mortal enemies with the newly established regime of Yuan Hao, and they resisted resolutely, and their loyalty to the Song Dynasty was even stronger than many armies.

Dongjia Village is a military camp. There are no civilians in the village, and the people live outside the village. Only when foreign enemies invade, they will enter the village to hide. Therefore, the outside of the village is much more prosperous than the inside of the village. There are hundreds of families from the Quay to the Ferry.

After leaving the village gate, walking west along the Yellow River, it is a fenced trade place, which is the Qun. There are soldiers guarding the door, and idle people are not allowed to enter. Merchants must apply for public accounts and state their identity and goods before they can enter the domestic trade. Qun. Based on the trade goods, one in ten is charged for physical tax. Qun. Qun. is not a market, not a place where ordinary people can visit, and only conduct bulk trade.

Leaving the Quotation site and going to the west ferry crossing, it is the commercial street in Dongjiazhai. There are all kinds of shops on both sides of the road, from daily necessities to gold, silver and jade. Qingshan Tower is built here, overlooking the Yellow River.

When Du Zhongxiao arrived, more than a dozen foreign leaders were at the door. When they saw Du Zhongxiao coming, they all sang promises to salute. They all came to Dongjiazhai to do business, and they happened to meet the army on patrol. They all came to pay their respects. The foreign troops were of different sizes, and they were rich and poor. Some of these small leaders were wearing silk and satin, while others were wearing coarse linen clothes, and they all looked like everything.

After entering the restaurant, the small pavilion could not be squeezed out until the second floor lobby was placed next to the window.

After three rounds of drinking, Du Zhongxiao said to the young leaders who were a little curious about him: "You were all under Tanglong Town before? They were invaded and plundered the population. Tanglong Town was abandoned. What's the situation there now?"

A small leader stood up and crossed his hands and said, "The officials, since the Hao thief invaded, our tribes have fled all except those who were kidnapped by them. Now they live on the other side of the Yellow River, and there are fourteen tribes, each living in their own tents."

Seeing this man well-behaved, Du Zhongxiao asked him: "Who are you? How many people are there on the other side now? How can you make a living?"

The man said, "The little Ming Xiangbu brought more than 100 clan members to live in the mountains there. Now, on the other side of the Yellow River, our fourteen clans have about two, four or five thousand bills, all of them are in the mountains, grazing cattle, sheep, and camels to make a living. All the items are purchased from Dongjiazhai."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Four or five thousand tents, the population is also large. Now Tanglong Town is abolished, but there are still thieves from Dangxiang who are going to plunder?"

Xiangbu shook his head: "The war between Dangxiang and Khitan in the past two years was finally won, but he was beaten badly and rarely came back. However, the Khitans occupied our Dongzhe land. When the Yellow River soldiers were sealed in winter, they crossed the river. We could only hide everywhere, but we were really robbed miserably."

The territory of Tanglong Town is divided into Dongli and Xili. Now Dongli has been captured by the Khitan, and the remaining foreign tribes live in Xili. The Yellow River in this area freezes in winter, and every winter, Khitan soldiers will come on ice to seize the population of cattle and sheep. These small foreign tribes can only hide everywhere.

Du Zhongxiao raised his glass: "The wars in the northwest have begun over the years and the wars have been fought for years. The court cannot take care of the north of the Yellow River. Thank you for your hard work. Let's have a drink."

The foreign tribes used the tent as a unit, and each tent was equivalent to a Han family. The other side of the Yellow River had a population of more than 5,000 accounts, and the population was greater than that of the volcanic army. Even the remaining territories occupied several times that of the volcanic army. However, the places they lived in were broken hills, inconvenient transportation, and difficult to find roads. If it weren't for this kind of geographical conditions, the Khitan and Dangxiang would have annexed them long ago.

Once you cross the Yellow River, it is full of hills with ravines and ravines, which is not suitable for large army operations. Wars are carried out with small troops of hundreds or even dozens of people, and it is very difficult to support troops of more than a thousand. Of course, these small tyrants live in scattered areas and have no ability to protect themselves against the Khitan army.

Compared with the Khitan and Dangxiang, the Song Dynasty almost never plundered these small tribes, and most of them were interested in the Song Dynasty. It was just that the Song Dynasty was on the defensive frontier, and the army could not take care of them, and only had a nominal unit.

Du Zhongxiao asked about the nearby trade, Xiang preached: "This place is remote, and cattle and sheep are not worth much. This year, because there is a Bingzhou fur yard, there are more merchants who collect sheepskin, which is better than in previous years. In the past few years, we only relied on the horses in the court to exchange for some silk and tea."

Du Zhongxiaoqi said: "So you are selling horses to the court? Why haven't I seen it?"

Xiang preached: "The officials don't know that our horses are sold to the prefectures, and the volcanic army only occasionally buys and sells them, very few."

The Prefectures are the territory of the Zhe family, and the front line against Dangxiang. They have the same background as these small prostitutes and are closer. Moreover, in the past, these small prostitutes were under the name of the Prefectures and Zhe family, and they were all made with them in bulk trade, and the volcanic army traded in small scale. However, in recent years, the color of the vassal states in the three prefectures of Linfeng Prefecture has become increasingly faded. The Yang family of Linzhou and the Wang family of Fengzhou have declined. The Zhe family has produced a Zhe Jimin, which has a bit of a revival atmosphere.

Horses were an important strategic resource at this time. Although the Hedong Luzhou Army also raised horses, they were far from enough for the military to use. One of the major sources of horses in the Song Dynasty was the horses in Fuzhou City. However, after the rebellion of Dangxiang, the number of these small horses in the small tribe was limited, and the horse market had gradually declined.

The court did not care about hundreds or dozens of horses a year, but Du Zhongxiao was extremely interested and asked in detail how many horses the leaders could sell.

Xiang preached: "Since the party Xiang invaded and the tribes were scattered, we can only sell two or three hundred good horses every year. There are many tribes that raise horses under the Fuzhou government, and there are not a shortage of our horses. Fengzhou in the middle has been broken, and there are only sporadic transactions in the past two years. Now the divisions have stored some good horses. If the officials are interested, the younger ones are willing to sell them here. It's just that the road is difficult to reach and the transfer is difficult, so the price is probably more expensive."

Du Zhongxiao said: "How expensive can it be?"

Xiangbu discussed with the people around him and said, "We always want twenty stakes. We are all good horses, so we should be more expensive."

After hearing this, Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "It's twenty stagnant. How many you have, I can buy as much as you can!"
Chapter completed!