"Brother Xu, let's go a few miles further. The terrain around this place is not open enough for camping."
"Haha, Xiu'er is very thoughtful. I think you can become a general leading an army in war."
"Brother Xu is laughing at me again... Dear uncles and brothers, please work harder. We will camp after passing this pass and rest. When we pass by the city tomorrow, I will treat you to meat and wine."
"Thank you so much, Shopkeeper Lu!"
"Don't worry, Shopkeeper Xiu'er!"
"..."
On Ningshanyi Road, a caravan was slowly moving forward. The person walking beside the caravan, shouting and encouraging everyone, was none other than Lu Xiuer. Her current identity is the shopkeeper of Liangxiang Factory, because she is young, lively and cute
, she was very kind to the craftsmen, and many older craftsmen affectionately called her "Shopkeeper Xiu'er".
Walking side by side with Lu Xiuer was Xu Guangqi, the chief engineer of Liangxiang Factory and a great scientist. In the past two years, Xu Guangqi has been engaged in scientific research at Liangxiang Factory and has achieved a number of research results.
A piece of technical equipment has become a physical object.
This time, because the survey battalion was going to the border to carry out work, Su Hao wrote a letter to Lu Xiuer, asking her to arrange for someone to send a batch of weapons and equipment to Ningxia in case of emergencies. Lu Xiuer was not required to send equipment.
Such a girl came to host, but she was worried on the one hand, and missed Su Hao on the other, so she resolutely accepted the job. Since some equipment may need to be debugged after being sent to the border, Xu Guangqi and the craftsman Hao Qing also
Go with the group.
Along the way, Lu Xiuer was busy dealing with various affairs. Whenever she passed through prefectures and counties, Lu Xiuer would definitely buy some wine and meat to entertain the porters and accompanying craftsmen, guards, etc., for fear that they would feel tired and not do their best. In fact, this trip
Except for the craftsmen in the factory, the rest of the people who delivered the equipment were found with the help of Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen. The wages given were very generous, and there was no reason for these people to feel dissatisfied. Seeing how considerate the girl shopkeeper was to everyone,
Naturally, everyone worked harder.
"Hey, all the cars and horses in front of us stop!"
The caravan was walking forward when a group of people suddenly appeared on the road. The leader was a man with a bare head and a full beard. He looked extremely ferocious. He was riding on a tall horse and waved the ghost head in his hand.
Knife, shouted loudly at the caravan.
"It's broken, it's broken. We've met a bad guy again!" The guide leading the way stopped quickly and at the same time called for the people behind to stop. The porters who drove the cart were also knowledgeable and restrained the animals one after another to prevent them from being frightened.
No one yelled or screamed, just waiting for the shopkeeper to come forward and deal with it.
In the Ming Dynasty during the Wanli period, the society was generally relatively prosperous, and there was no nationwide famine, so the social order was relatively stable. However, the bandits and strongmen who gathered in the mountains and forests were never extinct. In this northwest region, due to the population density,
Being small, it is more likely to breed banditry. Along the way, they have encountered several cases of robbery. This is why Lu Xiuer always looks for open areas or market towns to park and camp.
"Xiu'er, don't come forward. I'll just go and deal with it." Su Xiaohu, the steward of the caravan, said to Lu Xiu'er, "They are just a few ordinary horse thieves. Just scare them and run away."
Lu Xiuer said: "Don't cause trouble as much as possible. My brother and the others are still waiting for these weapons in our car. I'd better go and talk to them."
"Well, okay. I'll go with you." Su Xiaohu agreed.
Lu Xiuer was in front, Su Xiaohu and Xu Guangqi were behind. The three of them walked from the middle to the front of the team, talking to the strongman opposite them from a distance of a hundred paces.
"Uncles opposite, don't get me wrong. We are here to feed the soldiers at the border, not merchants. Please raise your hands and let us pass." Lu Xiuer clasped her fists and saluted the strongmen.
"Hey, it's actually a girl who is leading the team." The bearded man opposite laughed loudly, "Come here and give me a kiss. If I am happy, I will let you go."
Lu Xiuer knew the habits of these strong men and did not care about the insult in the other party's words. She still said with a smile: "Uncles, you see our caravan also has guards. If everyone collides, everyone will inevitably be killed or injured. My car is full of people."
It's a defensive thing at the border. Even if you take it, it won't be of any use. Why don't you raise your hands? My niece is willing to give you 50 taels of tattooed silver and treat all uncles to a drink."
Robbers stealing things are also risky. Lu Xiuer first stated that this convoy was to deliver things to the military, which contained a threat. He warned the other party that his backers were very strong and asked the other party not to act rashly. Then he said that he was willing to pay 50 taels of silver.
It is a courtesy to buy money for the road. At least the other party will not leave empty-handed. If you encounter a robber who does not want to get into trouble with the military, he may accept this condition, accept the money, and let the convoy pass. This result will be detrimental to the convoy.
Say, nature is the best.
50 taels of silver was considered a huge amount of money based on the price of goods at that time, and compared to the materials transported by the convoy, the price paid to buy the road was worth it.
"50 taels of silver? This is a good deal."
Sure enough, as soon as Lu Xiuer said this, some people in the bandit team were moved. These people were also from ordinary people. Some fell into the grass because of poor land harvest and lack of livelihood, and some started doing this kind of moneyless work because they were lazy and easy to eat.
When most people heard that this was a convoy going to the border, they were a little afraid, so they persuaded their leaders to accept Lu Xiuer's conditions.
"What do you know!" The man with the beard is the leader of the bandits. He went to the mountain to become a bandit because he committed a murder in his early years. As a habitual bandit, he is much more courageous than his gangsters.
"She said the cart contained ordnance, so you believed it? Ordnance would naturally be escorted by the army, so how could a caravan come to deliver it? I see that the ruts on this cart are very deep, and it must be filled with gold and silver. We will rob it later
I won’t have to do this business again for half my life.” The bandit leader said to everyone.
"I'm going to scare them!"
Hearing that the convoy might be escorting gold and silver, there were greedy people in the bandit team who were ready to take action. A mangy-headed strongman rode out of the team, drew his sword in his hand, and asked the leader for instructions.
"Go ahead, don't hurt anyone first," the leader ordered.
There are many strongmen who rob on horseback in the northwest region. People generally call them horse thieves. Because they are equipped with horses, they can carry out crimes on a large scale and can easily escape after succeeding. The government often has nothing to do with them. Lu Xiuer and the others encountered this time
, is just such a group of horse thieves. At a rough look, there are more than thirty people on the other side, each of them has a horse on his crotch, and the steel knife in his hand is shining. It is obviously a very powerful gang.
"Don't mess around!"
Lu Xiuer and others saw that the strong man was preparing to attack, and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. Su Xiaohu took a step forward, passed a flintlock gun from behind, and threatened the strong man: "Don't even think about getting close, be careful, the gun has no eyes!"
"
"They actually have firecrackers!" The strongmen were a little surprised. The Ming Dynasty Law stipulates that civilians are not allowed to own firearms. Although in reality some officials and wealthy businessmen will also let their guards equip themselves with several firecrackers for self-defense, but in general
, the presence of firecrackers in the caravan means that their background is indeed not small.
"What are you afraid of? It's just a firecracker. Maybe I borrowed it from some soldier to scare people." The bandit leader said disdainfully, "You can tell at a glance that these people don't know how to use firecrackers. We are less than a hundred steps apart.
, before they could light the fire medium, our horses rushed forward, so they had no chance to use the fire blunderbuss."
"Hmph, let me grab that kid's fire blunderbuss." Hearing what the leader said, Yu Litou estimated the distance and felt that he could indeed rush in front of them before the other party lit the fire.
With just one swing, how could the opponent have a chance to shoot?
"Drive!" He clamped his legs on the horse's belly. The horse was well-trained, kicked off its hind legs, and rushed out, rushing towards Lu Xiu'er and others.
"Ah!" Lu Xiuer screamed and quickly covered her eyes with her hands. It was not that she was afraid of the strong man opposite, but she knew that this man was in danger.
"impeach!"
The flintlock gun in Su Xiaohu's hand went off. After repeated improvements by Xu Guangqi, Hao Qing and others, the flintlock gun has extremely reliable performance and strong lethality. When Su Xiaohu has nothing to do, he usually goes to the factory to help the craftsmen calibrate the gun and practice marksmanship.
It was extremely accurate. He raised his hand and fired at the horse thief who was galloping towards him, and a red flower bloomed on the chest of the man. The powerful impact made him turn over from his horse and fell to the ground, where he stood upright and motionless.
The war horse, which had lost its master, screamed and ran towards the nearby fields.
"Kill people, kill people!"
"Du Laoer was killed!"
"Oh my god, what kind of firecracker is this? Why is it so powerful!"
The strongmen were startled all of a sudden, and they couldn't help but urge their horses to take more than ten steps back. It wasn't until the leader, who was left alone in front, turned around and glared at them that they realized that they had violated a taboo.
"Brother, the person holding the other side is a real guy. We have never seen that musket. The idea is too tough." Someone came close to the leader and said angrily, which could be regarded as covering up for his gaffe.
"Did you see him lighting a firewood just now?" the leader asked his subordinates.
"No!" Everyone shook their heads together. In fact, they did not watch the process of Su Xiaohu's shooting in detail, but they just felt that there was no such action.
"This is so evil. What is he doing?" The bandit leader was extremely surprised. The survey camp had a lot of equipment like flintlock guns, and the Ministry of War also purchased some, but for ordinary people, this kind of thing
Artifacts are still very unfamiliar.
"Listen to the strong men opposite, we don't want to take action, not because we are afraid of you, but because we don't want to hurt the harmony between the two parties. This brother ignored our warning and wanted to attack us, so we have to give him a light punishment. Now
We once again ask you to get out of the way. As long as you are willing to let us go, the 50 taels of silver we promised before will remain unchanged, and we can add another 50 taels as compensation for the deceased. I hope you will think twice."
Xu Guangqi took a step forward and said loudly to the horse thief. (To be continued...)