After a false alarm, Liang Xiao called Mei Gao and others back, and then called the accompanying translator. Only then did he realize that these men were speaking the local language of the border counties. There was naturally some difference between the local language and the Xiongnu language, but for the people of the Central Plains, this difference could not be distinguished at all.

"In the eyes of you Central Plains people, aren't we border people just barbarians?" Xie Guanglong said sourly.

Liang Xiao laughed silently. "I didn't expect that such a rough man, you can say such a small thing, and aren't you afraid of embarrassing?"

"Is this true?" Xie Guanglong shrugged and wiped the soil from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. "The Huns invade every year and abduct thousands of people. Has the court ever been anxious? But the people from the court are different. Once we are in danger, we will fight to save each other."

Liang Xiao's heart moved. "You said the story of General Li in Shangjun?"

"Yes." Xie Guanglong nodded, suddenly feeling something was wrong. "How do you know?"

Liang Xiao grinned and laughed. Li Guang was the previous prefect of Yanmen, and Xie Guanglong was probably Li Guang's old subordinate. Li Guang was very good to his subordinates. He never took them home whenever he received a reward. He always gave them to his subordinates, and he also loved his soldiers, so he had a great reputation. This was the case in Chang'an, and it must be the same in Yanmen.

The Han people are simple and respectful of courage. Li Guang is a typical example. He is completely different from another famous general Cheng Buzhi. He commands soldiers with his personal charm. He cares about the soldiers, and the soldiers love him. It is normal for him to often talk about his examples.

For example, in order to save the nobles sent by the court, Li Guang confronted the Xiongnu Theater and later was surrounded by the Huns. He was almost wiped out by the entire army.

"General Li is now the Weiyang Guardian. I am Weiyang Lang. I am under General Li's command."

Xie Guanglong jumped up, surprised and happy. "Are you under General Li?"

Liang Xiao laughed loudly, pointed at Li Shuyun and others and said, "Not only I am, they are all."

"You are so blessed." Xie Guanglong said, not hiding his envy at all. Li Shuyun and others proudly raised their heads. With a common topic, the atmosphere immediately became harmonious and soon became speculative.

Xie Guanglong’s complaints are not groundless, but real difficulties.

Yanmen is a border county. It is often attacked by the Huns. Every autumn, the season for the Han people to harvest is the beginning of the disaster. The Huns came on horses, more or less, at least at theft and more robbed. The Han people could only focus on protection, also known as autumn defense.

Xie Guanglong and others pretended to be refugees and went out to investigate. They wanted to figure out the situation of the Huns this year. The customs of the Huns will be in Longcheng in May and the forest will be in July to count the harvest of the year. Once the Huns' harvest this year is not good, the autumn defense will increase the manpower.

To prevent the invasion of the Huns, it is not only necessary to organize a large number of border people to prevent autumn, but also to have famous generals guarding them. When Li Guang and Cheng Buzhi and other famous generals were guarding the border, the Huns did not dare to act rashly, and they dared not go deeper. They usually just walked around the Great Wall and left. Now Li Guang and Cheng Buzhi were all transferred back to the capital, and the unknown generals in the border counties were guarding them. The Huns were unscrupulous, and the people were affected.

Xie Guanglong did not mention the name of Feng Yannian, the prefect of Yanmen, but his disdain for Feng Yannian was beyond words. He was even unwilling to mention Feng Yannian, but he was just sorry for Li Guang's transfer and the death of the former prefect Feng Jing, especially the execution of the innocence of the Ying Zhidu.

"You have been in Yanmen for many years?"

"I am a member of Yanmen. Where can I go if I am not in Yanmen?" Xie Guanglong sighed. "I originally wanted to make contributions by joining the army and move to the mainland in the future. Now it seems that it is difficult. I can only defend and cannot take the initiative to attack. In which year can I save enough heads of the Huns."

Liang Xiao and Mei Gao exchanged glances and smiled knowingly.

...

After drinking a drink with Xie Guanglong and learning about some situations, Liang Xiao realized that their mission would not be smooth. May has passed and July is approaching. It is a question whether the Huns are interested in receiving them.

Just do it like this?

Without any consideration, Liang Xiao and Mei Gao both rejected this opinion. The emperor's expectations for them would never be passively waiting, and they also knew that the Taihuang Taihuang Dou's health was getting worse day by day, and the battle against the Huns could begin at any time, and their time was very tight.

They must take the initiative.

Mei Gao found the prefect Feng Yannian again and asked Xie Guanglong to be their guide.

Feng Yannian had nothing to do and agreed readily. He had only one request. Before Qiuwei, Xie Guanglong had to return to his own position. It seems that even if Feng Yannian was as conservative as Feng Yannian knew that real war still needed during the war.

Mei Gao agreed. As for whether he really agreed or perfunctory, only he knew.

Xie Guanglong soon came with twenty knights.

These people were all subordinates who followed him that day. Although they were not as ragged as they were that day, their clothes were obviously not very good. Only Xie Guanglong had a piece of iron armor that was almost worn out even with paint. The others were all leather armor, and the traces of patching were obvious.

"Your equipment is so bad?"

"If you don't save any credit, how can you get the money to change your armor?" Xie Guanglong said helplessly: "Border counties are poor, and even eating is a problem. Iron armor is too expensive to afford."

Liang Xiao and Mei Gao discussed it and decided to buy some equipment first and then some horses. It is not enough to go to the grassland to only have one horse. Except for the pack horses raised by supplies, it is best for each person to have another war horse. The mounts of the Langguans are good, but they are not considered real war horses.

Of course, buying war horses is the most suitable place for Guanshi. Guanshi is a place to trade with Hu people outside the West. Hu people have no specialties, and horses are the most important ones. If you want to buy horses, it is the cheapest to go to Guanshi. However, Guanshi does not open every day and you have to wait. Before that, Liang Xiao and others came to Shanwucheng's market to buy other supplies.

Shanwucheng is the capital of Yanmen County. The market looks quite large, but for the men who are used to seeing Chang'an City, this market is not worth mentioning, and they don't even have the interest in watching it. Under the leadership of Xie Guanglong, they go straight to their destination.

As soon as he entered the market, Liang Xiao took out the sign given to him by Daxing Ling Wang Hui and tucked it in his belt. Those who don’t know this sign will not notice this bamboo piece, but those who know this sign can recognize it at a glance.

After entering the market and coming to the iron work that specializes in creating armor, Liang Xiao discovered a long iron piece of armor. This pair of armor, which was only two pieces in front and back, was wiped cleanly and hung in the center of the store, showing the owner's strong strength and superb skills.

Seeing a large group of customers coming to the door, the sturdy shop owner rushed out from behind, wiped his hands on the black apron with one hand, and asked with a smile: "Customer, do you want to buy something? Don't worry about my Blacksmith Wang's craftsmanship. Thank you Sima, you are together?"

Liang Xiao couldn't understand the owner's local dialect. Seeing that he was familiar with Xie Guanglong, he was right in his mind and signaled Xie Guanglong to come forward to discuss business. Xie Guanglong explained his purpose to the owner, and the owner's eyes lit up and he stretched out a hand and shook it.

Xie Guanglong said with some embarrassment: "He said, a pair of armor... five thousand."

"So expensive?" Liang Xiao was surprised. Such a simple Liangdang armor would probably not exceed forty kilograms, and the price of a kilogram of iron would be ten cents. Adding the leather inside would not exceed one thousand. With the wages, it would be at most 1,500 cents, not more than two thousand. Why should it cost 5,000 cents?

"The border county is highly valued, and the government has strictly controlled it."

"How much does it cost per pound of iron here?"

"eighty."

Liang Xiao was stunned. No wonder it was so expensive. The price of this iron was eight times that of the mainland. After all, the owner did not make much money.

Seeing Liang Xiao surprised, Xie Guanglong felt embarrassed. "This... is too expensive, so don't buy it. You can buy a pair of leather armor to deal with it."

"This is not OK. Isn't a life worth five thousand yuan?" Liang Xiao gritted his teeth and decided to cut some meat and make some blood. "You ask him how long can he take out the twenty-one armor pairs. Also, each of you has another pair of swords and no weapon to help, it will be very difficult to fight."

This time, it was Xie Guanglong's turn to be stunned. Twenty-one pairs are 105,000 yuan, plus twenty-one pairs of swords, they can't get it without 120,000 yuan. This is a huge sum of money, which is several times the amount of his property.

What kind of noble man is this young man, so rich?

"Also, do you want to change the iron spear?"

Xie Guanglong no longer knew how to answer, so he opened his mouth wide, drooling along the corner of his mouth until the worn-out armor. It was not until his brother next to him stabbed him a few times that he suddenly realized, nodded repeatedly, and said repeatedly: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

He paused and said, "But, the ugly thing is ahead. I will give you back at most, and I will definitely not be able to pay back the money. Even on average, each person will have nearly 6,000 yuan. We brothers are all so poor that they have no money to pay it back."

Liang Xiao was amused by Xie Guanglong's honesty. He patted Xie Guanglong on the shoulder. "You don't have to go back, this is the meeting gift I gave you."

Xie Guanglong breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, bowed repeatedly, turned around and glared at the shop owner Wang Blacksmith. "Big business comes to your door. If you don't give me the best price, I'll go to another house to do it."

Wang Blacksmith couldn't quite understand the official language, so he stared at Xie Guanglong, and then looked at Liang Xiao, not knowing what they were talking about. When he realized that the business had been agreed, he almost fainted happily and agreed to give Xie Guanglong the best price.

Despite this, the business was still too big. Wang Blacksmith could not take it alone and could not catch up with the construction period. He immediately found several colleagues to discuss it. When he heard that there was such a large business, the blacksmiths were red, as if they were injected with chicken blood.

After negotiations, the total price of the business was 110,000 yuan, jointly undertaken by Qijia Tiezuo and delivered in three days.

Liang Xiao readily handed over the hardware as a deposit.

Although he had not yet obtained the new armor and weapons, Xie Guanglong and others were still as excited as a child. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, the iron in the border county is expensive, but the horses are cheap. The extra money spent here will be earned for you when buying horses."-

(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!