No one applauded Cheng Dong's sage articles. Thousands of miles away in the city of Ningxia, the house of Xiao Ruxun, the newly promoted commander-in-chief, was bustling with people.
"General Xiao, Xiao Ke is a disciple of Li Shangshu's house. Under Li Shangshu's orders, we are here to congratulate General Xiao on his promotion."
"General Xiao really has the demeanor of a general and shows his talent. Shilang Wang often mentioned his encounter with General Xiao in front of a certain family."
"General Xiao, my master asked me to ask if there is anything we can be useful for?"
"General Xiao..."
For more than ten days in a row, Xiao Ruxun could only do one thing from morning to night every day, which was to receive various guests from all directions, listen to their oblique and oblique remarks, and inquire about the dispatch of troops to the grassland.
All these guests brought valuable gifts, and some of them just gave them thick banknotes. Xiao Ruxun wanted to refuse at first, but was stopped by Su Hao. Su Hao told him: These are all
Why not accept the military expenses sent by others?
"However, this is an obvious bribe. If Xiao accepts it, and the court investigates it in the future, wouldn't it be impossible for Xiao to escape by jumping into the Yellow River?" Xiao Ruxun said anxiously.
Su Hao said: "It's simple. Keep an account of how much money you receive, and report it to the Cabinet Chief Minister Shen and the Emperor every once in a while. All future expenses are well documented, who can say anything to you?
"
"Is this okay?" Xiao Ruxun said in surprise.
"What's wrong? We are going to fight against the rebels and we lack military funds. The wealthy businessmen in the world share the same hatred for the rebels and have taken the initiative to send military supplies. If we don't accept them, wouldn't we have chilled the hearts of the people with lofty ideals in the world? We are also sharing the worries of the imperial court.
When Brother Xiao returns from victory in the future, when he writes a petition for merit, wouldn't it be enough to write all their names on it?" Su Hao said with a smile.
Xiao Ruxun suddenly realized: "This is the truth, Xiao just wants to be clear in his heart, why bother to stick to the formality."
In this way, Xiao Ruxun simply opened his mouth and refused to accept anyone who came. He put all the money sent by the merchants into the public treasury of Ningxia Wei. He asked the chief bookkeeper Liang Feng to remember the accounts clearly. In this way, if anything happened in the future
If someone makes irresponsible remarks, he doesn't have to be afraid.
The businessmen came to Ningxia Wei, of course, not to give money to Xiao Ruxun. They had only one purpose in flattering Xiao Ruxun, which was to gain some benefits outside the border wall in the future. On this issue. Xiao Ruxun
He had already had a dispute with Su Hao, and he told the merchants in a pleasant manner that they should patiently settle in Ningxia City, and everyone would definitely have a share in the benefits from the grassland.
Knowing that the proposal to send troops had been approved by the imperial court, Xiao Ruxun and Su Hao quickly started various pre-war preparations. The surveying and mapping team from Zheyu Camp entered the grassland on a large scale and carried out map surveying and mapping work outside the border wall day and night.
The intelligence department personnel in charge of Chen Guanyu traveled among various grassland tribes as Taoist priests, doctors, businessmen, entertainers, etc. to collect information. The officers and soldiers of the Ningxia Guard were training hard, especially those who were learning various firearms.
use, as well as coordinated tactical training between firearms and cold weapons.
The glass workshop built by Hao Qing in Pinglu City was moved to the outside of Ningxia City. At the same time, there were also steel plants, ironworks plants, chemical plants, etc., which almost copied the model of Su's factory in the suburbs of Beijing. Lu Xiuer came from the capital
A group of craftsmen were transferred to the factory, and the businessmen who came to Ningxia to prospect for gold also sent their skilled craftsmen to participate in the industrial construction of Ningxia Wei.
The things Su Hao used to attract businessmen were mainly the mineral resources in and around Ningxia Wei. Once these minerals are developed, they must be digested locally to be the most valuable. If they are transported long distances to the inland for smelting, processing, and light transportation
The cost alone can wipe out the benefits of mining. Su Hao is well aware of the cost-benefit relationship, so he simply builds a large number of industrial projects in Ningxia City to turn minerals into wealth on the spot.
Ningxia Wei itself is a region rich in mineral resources. There is no need to wait for the army to send troops to the grassland. The minerals within the border wall alone have already made the eyes of the merchants bright.
High-quality Taixi coal is transported to the mainland one by one, and is supplied to the homes of the powerful at several times the price of ordinary bituminous coal. The rich quartz ore and clay ore can be fired without worrying about energy at all.
A large number of glass and ceramic products were produced. Several iron ore and copper mines were not large in scale from the perspective of later generations, but based on the production level of the Ming Dynasty, they were already considered good mines. The most important thing was that they still had cheap coal.
, can greatly reduce smelting costs, so the output is also very considerable.
The rise of industry brought a large population. All towns in Ningxia Wei suddenly became prosperous. Restaurants and shops were being built or renovated everywhere. Well-dressed wealthy businessmen could be seen everywhere. At first glance, they looked like those from the mainland.
The city is average.
During this period, under the repeated urging of Xiao Ruxun's wife, Yang Shulan, and Qin Liangyu, Su Hao's marriage was also completed in Ningxia City. Su Hao wrote a letter to Huai'an Mansion and asked his father-in-law Han Wen to send someone to send Han Qian to the capital.
, went to Ningxia with his mother Yang Gendi. Then, on an auspicious day, Su Hao married two wives, Han Qian and Lu Xiuer, at the same time. With Wanli's marriage edict, both Han Qian and Lu Xiuer were able to marry into the Su family as wives.
, but it also fulfilled the wishes of the two people.
After Han Qian and Lu Xiuer moved into Su Hao's inner house, Cheng Yi and Song Ling, who used to live in the inner house, seemed a little embarrassed. Fortunately, the two hostesses were both easy-going people and got along very well with Cheng Yi and Song Ling.
After trying to persuade the two of them to stay, they both stayed in the end. Su Hao naturally had no objection to this.
Among the two, the singer was heartless and didn't find it inconvenient to stay in the Su family's inner house. Cheng Yi had something on her mind, especially after Su Hao got married, she had more things on her mind. Han and Lu
The two of them knew what their best friend was thinking, so they took turns blowing pillows on Su Hao and persuaded her husband to choose a day to take Cheng Yi in as well. Su Hao took this girl away on the grounds that the war was imminent and it would be inconvenient to cause more trouble.
Put it aside beforehand.
Various military preparations in the city of Ningxia lasted for several months, and the Tatar tribes on the grassland could not have been unaware. Although they did not know that the Ming army had begun various reconnaissance activities on the grassland, they still stepped up their efforts to conduct various reconnaissance activities on the grassland.
Patrols along the border wall were carried out to guard against sudden troop movements by the Ming army.
Kuaibai hurriedly escaped from the Ming Dynasty with thousands of soldiers and horses and came to the grassland. He did not want to join any big tribal leader and become someone else's subordinate. In fact, no big leader dared to take him in, because Yibai had the
Strength is a hidden danger no matter who is left under his command.
Kuaibai led his troops back to his original tribe, and killed the tribal leader and his soldiers cleanly. He became the leader of the tribe and made the herdsmen in the tribe submit to him. Such a big force annexing small ones.
Matters of power are common on the grasslands. The herdsmen did not resist and directly recognized Kuai Bai's leadership.
The Aibai tribe is located to the west of Helan Mountain, separated from Ningxia Town by a stretch of mountains. Since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties have used Helan Mountain as a barrier to prevent the invasion of nomadic tribes from the west. Therefore, Helan Mountain has become a link between the Central Plains and Tatar tribes.
dividing line between.
Kuai Bai, who fled back to the grassland, naturally would not neglect to inquire about the Ningxia Guard. Before he escaped, he left many informants in the Ningxia Guard. These informants would send information about the Ningxia Guard to the grassland every once in a while.
Come up here for Kuai Bai's reference. From this information, Kuai Bai learned about Xiao Ruxun's request to send troops to the grasslands to pursue him, and also learned about the large number of merchants coming from the Central Plains to the border.
"This Xiao Ruxun has lost his temper and gone crazy. How dare he come to our grassland to fight?" Kuai Bai's son Kuai Chengen looked at the information sent by his spy and said to his father disapprovingly.
"Cheng'en, don't underestimate this Xiao Ruxun. Of course, my father had dealt with him when he was in Ningxia Wei. This man is definitely not a reckless person." Kuaibai warned.
"What, father, do you think Xiao Ruxun really has the courage to chase him to the grassland?" Kuai Chengen asked.
Baibai said: "Isn't the information sent by the informant very clear? The Ming army is now in full swing and is about to send troops. The news from the court has also been confirmed."
Yi Chengen shook his head and said: "I mean, didn't he show off to the court in order to get a reward? How could he have the courage to go to the grassland to fight with us? He didn't know that this grassland belongs to us Tatars.
The world?"
Kuaibai said: "Based on my understanding of Xiao Ruxun, whether he has the courage depends on whether he has the ability. If he is sure of winning, he will definitely do this. It's not like he didn't do anything back then.
He crossed the border wall to fight with us Tatars, but he didn’t dare to go too far.”
"He didn't dare to go too far in the past, why does he dare to do it now?" Kui Cheng'en said.
Kuai Bai glared at Chengen and said: "Chengen, you are also a general, don't you understand the passage of time? Think about it, why we can't defend Ningxia City, what changes have happened in the past
?”
"You mean... the Ming army's firearms?" Kuai Chengen finally remembered. The artillery that was enough to blow down the city wall left an indelible impression on all Kuaibai rebel generals, and it still appears from time to time.
In their nightmare.
Kuai worshiped: "As my father's guess, Xiao Ruxun must be colluding with that little guy named Su Hao and preparing to use firearms to deal with us. That's how they joined forces at the beginning and defeated Zhuli Rabbit under Pinglu City. Now, they
You want to repeat the old trick and take advantage of me."
"But this is different." Kuai Cheng'en said, "Jiliu Rabbit failed because he was a guest army and Xiao Ruxun was the main army. He fell into Xiao Ruxun's trap. Once he arrived on the grassland, there was nothing everywhere.
On the margin, no matter how sharp the weapons of the Ming army are, as long as we gallop on horseback, they will have nothing to do with us. They can only fight according to the roads we have drawn. Why are we afraid of them? "
"Underestimating the enemy will lead to defeat." Kuaibai said, "We must not underestimate Xiao Ruxun's ability. Cheng'en, you and Wenxiu should seize the time to prepare your troops and prepare for the Ming army's invasion." (To be continued.
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