It will not take more than five years to have such a large army, and it is less than two years ago that the Xuzhou army has reached its current scale. How can such a strong army be developed in such a short time?

Lu Xiangsheng, the battalion commander who had been the backbone of the army for ten years, had also seen him. Compared with the people in front of him, he was not worth mentioning at all.

"These are human actions, are there really ghosts and gods?" Lu Xiangsheng muttered, and then suddenly stopped himself. He is a Confucian disciple who respects ghosts and gods and stays away from them. He is also a hero with superb martial arts. He has never believed in ghosts and gods, but because of his calmness,

It is because Lu Xiangsheng knows the art of war very well that he feels shocked and incredible.

Lu Xiangsheng stood on the roadside, shaken in his mind, with a shocked look on his face. After seeing this, the internal guards who were mixed in the crowd didn't bother to pay attention. They have seen too many such shocked expressions in these days. It seems that

This big man is just tall and strong, and there is nothing else surprising about him.

After the shock, Lu Xiangsheng noticed other details. The soldiers of the Zhao Army were all wearing breastplates. According to rumors, the Xuzhou thieves were covered in iron. Look at the big baggage on the back. The other parts of the armor should be inside the baggage.

This chest armor is enough to make people stagger. With such a piece of iron hanging on the chest, as long as it is not a bluff piece of iron, it can be defended against cuts, spears and stabs. If you want to break the armor, I am afraid you can only use hammers and axes.

There was nothing to say about the spears and halberds carried by the soldiers of the Zhao family on their shoulders, but Lu Xiangsheng stared at the blunderbuss. If he couldn't get closer, he would go over and take a look, and he would take a look at as many details as he could.

According to rumors, the Zhao Jiajun's fire blunderbuss is extremely sharp. When fired in rows, even the elite cavalry of the official army cannot break through the fire net. Looking at the regulations of the fire blunderbuss from a distance, it seems to be thicker and heavier than the bird blunderbuss. The barrel of the blunderbuss should be shorter and thicker.

, can it hit farther like this?

It is said that the artillery of the Xuzhou thieves is different from that of the official army. It can fire accurately on the battlefield and its power is amazing. However, there are no artillery in the marching team in front of me. I can figure out the reason. What kind of crude artillery is there?

It is definitely more convenient to take the canal waterway.

Although by now the Xuzhou Northern Expedition team had been reduced by half compared to when they left, it still took a long time for the long team to pass by. Those who were watching the excitement began to find it new and interesting, but as time went by and each camp passed by, it became clear that

Feeling bored and tired, they dispersed and left. Lu Xiangsheng wanted to watch from beginning to end, but knew that it would be too conspicuous and unusual, so he could only reluctantly follow and leave.

Nowadays, the western counties of Yanzhou Prefecture are full of Xuzhou's farming villages. Military barracks are stationed in the fortress, and regiment training and armed forces have been organized. Bandits have no room to survive. There is no need to worry about safety, and rushing is not like before.

, we should pay attention to walking in broad daylight and staying overnight in the dark.

As the prefect of Daming Prefecture, Lu Xiangsheng was AWOL when he came out this time. Naturally, he could not stay in Yanzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province. After seeing it, he rode on horseback with his personal escort and others. Under such circumstances, he could not go too fast. Lu Xiangsheng could not go too fast along the way.

He spoke intermittently, but he was talking to himself. It must be that after watching the Zhao family's military appearance and power, he felt a lot of emotion and couldn't help but say a few words.

"This is indeed a disaster for the Ming Dynasty. If we don't cheer up, I'm afraid it will be a disaster."

"The Xuzhou thieves are human beings, and so are we. They can train such soldiers and horses, why can't we?"

After Lu Xiangsheng returned to Daming Prefecture, no one thought of him leaving the jurisdiction. First, his authority had been established, and no one dared to touch this bad luck. Second, no one paid attention to it now. The prefect of Daming Prefecture was an unlucky job. It was not easy to find someone.

He is here to do it and he is doing a good job, should we replace him?

After a few days of silence, Lu Xiangsheng wrote several letters and arranged for his close relatives to be sent to the capital and Jiangnan. Naturally, his close confidants knew who the recipients of the letters were. They had relatives and friends at home, and their positions in the capital were not low. In Jiangnan,

His reputation is very high, but his master is unwilling to plead, otherwise he would not be sent to Daming Mansion, which is adjacent to the enemy's territory. One of the letters is for a friend who was left behind after Donglin was purged.

The seed in the capital is the backbone of Yanguan Qingliu and has great energy.

The housekeeper who arranged to deliver the letter did not dare to neglect and hurriedly arranged for it to be delivered. However, he was secretly thinking that the master had gone to Shandong and was frightened by the Xuzhou thief, so he went around begging for someone to transfer him. If he really did that, it would be really

I can go to a good place, find some good jobs, and with my master's strong temper, he may have to do risky things again. Thinking of this, the housekeeper was so worried that he couldn't sleep a wink for several days.

************

June outside the Great Wall is the best time of the year. The green carpet is like a blanket, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant. Walking on the endless grassland, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, and looking at the livestock in the distance, the whole person feels relaxed and happy.

This is especially true in Xiashuihai. The area around this huge saltwater lake is one of the richest aquatic plants outside the Great Wall. At this time, a large number of tribes will come here with their cattle and horses. During this season, everyone will rush to breed and fatten.

Your own herds have no time to attack each other. This is also the most peaceful day.

These months are also a good time for Shanxi merchants. They come with a large amount of goods and exchange them for the gold, silver and trophies in the hands of the Mongolian nobles, and in exchange for the livestock and savings in the hands of the herdsmen, doubling their earnings.

Even several times the profit, since entering the year of Tianqi, this business has become easier and easier to do. So why did Lin Dan Khan take away Anda's grandson and occupy Guihua City himself?

When I'm short of things, I'm willing to pay a high price to buy iron pots, cotton cloth, and everything else that's not available on the grasslands. Of course, what I'm most willing to buy is Shaojiu, a strong liquor produced in Xuzhou that has a refreshing taste and feels like fire in the throat.

Lin Danhan wants everything, and Ming Dynasty's demand is also extremely strong. Xuzhou, which was not seen in everyone's eyes ten years ago, has now become a monster. It requires a lot of cattle and horses, a lot of leather, a lot of alkali, and a lot of riders.

Xuzhou needs whatever is available on the grassland. They give them the market price, but the market price is enough for everyone to make a fortune. Not to mention, if you sell it in Xuzhou, you can also buy cotton cloth, iron pots, shochu and other things that are needed on the grassland.

Things, this coming and going is a huge profit.

The person Shanxi businessmen hate the most now is Wang Ziyang. This humble pony dealer back then has become extremely wealthy. He monopolizes the supply of 90% of the famous Hanjing wine shipped to the grassland, and the remaining 10%.

It came out from Beizhili.

The Hanjing famous wine is not much better than several famous wines in Shanxi. What is rare is its clear and mellow taste, and the output. The reason why famous wines are famous wines is nothing more than the exquisite materials, complicated craftsmanship, and labor consumption.

The cost of consumable materials and good products is also high, but Xuzhou's shochu is not the same. Its output is too large. From this output, it can be judged that the cost of Hanjing famous liquor is not high, and there is no way to enter into a price war with him.

Besides, everyone is just trying to make a fortune. There is a monster behind the soju, and he even defeated hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the imperial court, so why bother looking for death?

Just because you don't want to get into trouble doesn't mean you don't think about it in your heart. This Xuzhou Shaojiu is really suitable for border market trade. It is tailor-made for those Mongolians. "Camels are good at willows, Mongolia is good at wine." The ancients already knew that these Mongolians

People need to drink shochu to warm their bodies in the bitter cold of winter. This strong and mellow shochu is just what they need. Now on this grassland, even herders who cannot speak Chinese can say "Hanjing Famous Liquor" in Chinese.

Those who can drink original Hanjing famous wine on the grassland are noble people. They have to have their own house in Guihua City and can speak in front of Lin Danhan. As for the others, they can only drink wine mixed with water.

Those who have money and animals can add less water, and those who have no money have to add more water, but the Mongolians are also willing to buy it. This wine is much better than their sour and weak koumiss, and it is even better in summer.

It’s easy to say that in the cold autumn and winter, one jar of wine without water can be exchanged for a woman, and five jars of wine without water can be exchanged for a good horse!

People who have made some achievements in business do not need to calculate accounts. Everyone knows how much Wang Ziyang has made from the huge profits of Xuzhou Shaojiu, but there is really no way. Some people spend a lot of money to poach the masters of the winery.

But Xuzhou kept a close eye on them. The wineries were only set up near Xuzhou and near the Zhao family's military camp. It wasn't that the brewing masters weren't interested, but they died suddenly before leaving Xuzhou. Even the man who poached them didn't come back.

No one dared to reach out anymore.

Every time Xuzhou went to war with the imperial court, the cloth merchants of Songjiang Prefecture led the way, and Jiangnan wealthy merchants responded, and they were the highest jumpers. But Shanxi merchants were also watching with eager eyes. Whenever there was a war, there were merchants with men and money at Kaifeng Prefecture.

Waiting, once the imperial court wins, they will go there to sweep people and goods, but every time they come back disappointed, and they are more and more afraid to act rashly. Even the imperial court's suppression has been defeated, not to mention the Shanxi businessmen who are backing them.

The generals in the border town also shrank back and kept saying to be cautious.

It is the hardest thing to see money in front of you but no way to make it. The generals of the Ming Dynasty are not willing to help, but some people want to do something wrong on the grassland. As long as you lose people and wealth a few times, you will not dare to take it all for yourself.

There are too many horse thieves on the grassland, and there are also many cavalrymen pretending to be cavalry. As long as the money and benefits are enough, killing people and stealing goods is easier than in the Ming Dynasty.

I have tried several times but I have been beaten to death. Every time Wang Ziyang goes out to the fortress, he always has a caravan of thousands of people. The combat power of these thousands of people is really not low. If the small band of horse thieves are not discerning, they will be directly attacked.

Eat it, big horse thieves have to ride two thousand numbers to be sure. The person who can command two thousand riders on this grassland is at least the identity of Jinzhang Nayan. Let alone, in the soju and heavy gold

Under the temptation, Wang Ziyang's caravan was actually besieged by more than two thousand horsemen at one time.

************

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