After returning to the big tent, everyone's attitude towards Xiao Ruxun was obviously more flattering. These grassland tribes are accustomed to the jungle law of the jungle. Whoever has strength will be attached to him. On the contrary, whoever
If you are easy to bully, they will attack you in groups.
The Ming army has sufficient strength and is supported by incredible firearms. The tribal leaders know that this is a powerful force that they cannot compete with. The smartest thing they can do is to cooperate with the Ming army instead of standing on the side of the Ming army.
On the opposite side of the army.
With this level of understanding, the subsequent conversation became harmonious. Xiao Ruxun briefly introduced the Ming army's plan to the Tatar leaders, which was to transform the original Kuaibai camp into a city as a city for the Ming Dynasty.
It will be the residence of the army and the upcoming craftsmen, farmers and others. The Ming Dynasty will use this as the center to carry out production activities such as pioneering and mining in the surrounding areas.
"We have lived here for generations and have never heard of any mines. What kind of mines does your ministry plan to mine here?" Muren asked Xiao Ruxun in surprise. The Tatars themselves do not master mining technology, let alone
Mention things like prospecting for minerals.
Xiao Ruxun said: "You don't have to worry about this. Our Deputy General Su is a well-known geologist in our Ming Dynasty. He is good at prospecting and finding water sources. He has said that he can find coal mines and iron mines.
We will build an iron smelting plant locally. At that time, I will give each of your tribes a few hundred kilograms of the best iron as a gift."
"Thank you, Commander!" Everyone quickly thanked them again. There is always a shortage of iron on the grassland. Let alone making weapons, it is extremely difficult to obtain iron pots, fire forks and the like for daily use. If Xiao Ruxun is willing to give them a few hundred kilograms
Iron, that’s a huge honor.
"General Xiao, you Han people always say that no merit will be rewarded without merit. We haven't done anything to help General Xiao, so why are we so embarrassed to take General Xiao's iron for nothing? Let's see, General Xiao wants to smelt iron. What's the matter?
If you need our help, just ask and we will do our best." Hasullah said just right.
"That's right!" The leaders echoed again. They didn't know whether Hasullah's words were inspired by Xiao Ruxun. Maybe Xiao Ruxun was waiting for them to express their stance. If they didn't understand, maybe Xiao Ruxun
One day those terrible cannons will be aimed at their tribe.
Xiao Ruxun pretended to be in embarrassment and said: "Everyone has such kind intentions. If Xiao doesn't accept it, I'm afraid it will offend everyone's sincerity. If he accepts it, he's afraid of bringing trouble to everyone. This really makes me sad."
Soldiers are in such a difficult position."
When he said this, everyone understood clearly. It was obvious that he was trying to cover up his troubles. After everyone thought about this clearly, the attentive expressions on their faces became a little more intense, and they all said:
"We are all a family, so why worry about a little trouble? If Mr. Xiao needs me to do anything, just speak up."
Xiao Ruxun pretended to say a few more polite words, and then said: "Okay. Since everyone sincerely wants to help me, I will accept your kindness. Here's the thing.
, we have to mine and build cities, and we need to transport a lot of materials. As everyone knows, I am short of cattle and horses..."
"There's no need to say anything, Mr. Xiao. We'll take care of the transportation of materials." Bayar took over Xiao Ruxun's words and said, "We make herding herding, nothing else."
I dare say that there is no shortage of cattle and horses. No matter how much there is, we can transport it."
"That would be great." Xiao Ruxun said happily, "With your help, our affairs will be much easier to handle. However, Xiao has said before, everyone can help, and Xiao takes it seriously, but for this work, food, and money, everyone must
If you want to accept it, if you refuse to accept it politely, Xiao will not listen to him."
"..." Everyone was speechless. Hiring people to do work requires payment. This is common sense. Xiao Ruxun said this as if he had given everyone a gift. Alas, dealing with Han people is really tiring.
Okay, how come these Han people are so oblique when talking about something?
No matter what they thought in their hearts, everyone had no choice but to do what they agreed to do, and a large-scale moving activity began.
As Bayar said, these grassland tribes had nothing else but a lot of cattle and horses. A dozen tribes easily made up thousands of cattle and the same number of pack horses, and were managed by a group of skilled men.
The herdsmen took command and entered the Helan Mountains and began to help the Ming army work.
The first thing the Ming army did was to level the passage across the Helan Mountains through Daxiakou. This passage originally existed, but it was just a road trampled by people and horses in the valley. Not to mention there were many potholes, and some places were very narrow.
, which is not conducive to the passage of the convoy. Xiao Ruxun accepted Su Hao's suggestion and organized people to widen and smooth this road, making it a regular road comparable to the post roads in the Ming Dynasty.
The workload of road construction is very huge, but with a large amount of animal power to drive, the difficulty of the work is greatly reduced. Xiao Ruxun arranged for thousands of soldiers to be responsible for the work of smoothing the road. They first cleared the large areas on the road.
The stones were smashed, and oxen and horses were used to carry sand and soil to fill the road. Then, hundreds of oxen dragged huge rollers on the road and crushed it again and again until the road surface was as flat as a mirror before giving up.
.
In addition to road construction, city building is also a large-scale work. Xiao Ruxun built a fortress on the east and west sides of the Helan Mountain Passage. The east fortress was built based on the original ruins of Daxiakou, and the west one was
It is completely new, including a section of side wall and a watchtower, which strictly protects the passage in the mountain.
The camp of the Kuaibai tribe was transformed into a small city. Xiao Ruxun called it Helan Fort and prepared it as a nail to drive into the grassland. In a hurry, Xiao Ruxun certainly couldn't get around Helan Fort.
A city wall was built, and he ordered people to make wooden fences around Helan Fort. Every once in a while, there was a turret made of stone and clay, with small cannons mounted on the turret and equipped with equipment.
Soldiers with muskets guarded such a city. If the rabbit attacked, it would have to pay a heavy price.
The building materials used to build the castle were all carried on horses. Things such as lime also needed to be transported from Ningxia. Without so many horses, it was really too much. Xiao Ruxun promised to pay the tribes, but he
Instead of taking out real money and silver, they found some Ming Dynasty products and gave them to each tribe, which was regarded as the cost of renting cattle and horses.
A large amount of mining equipment was also transported from Ningxia City. After a period of survey, Su Hao and his people identified several mining sites. The businessmen headed by Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen had been waiting for this day. After receiving the news,
Then they took miners and various equipment to the grasslands and surrounding mountainous areas and began digging holes and mining.
Since we are mining on Tatar territory, we may be attacked by Tatars at any time. Therefore, each mining site has established its own defense system, and merchants hire private soldiers to defend it. The private soldiers are fully equipped.
According to Xiao Ruxun's troops, in addition to various cold weapons, they are also equipped with a large number of flintlock guns, artillery and other firearms.
According to Su Hao's suggestion, a bunker was built in the center of each mining area to protect the workers and managers in the mining area when the Tatars invaded. Everyone hid in the bunker and used muskets and artillery to resist.
It can last for several days, waiting for the Ming army to come to relieve the siege.
The military households from Weili in Ningxia were also transferred over. They established a number of farming sites around Helan Fort. Since winter was approaching, they did not rush to open up wasteland, but continued to work in Pinglu City as they had done in the past.
They built a number of greenhouses and planted vegetables. There has always been a shortage of vegetables on the grassland, and it became even more serious in winter. In addition to providing vegetables for the garrison at Helan Fort, these greenhouses built by military households also
It also had the function of providing vegetables to various Tatar tribes. Relying on these vegetables, the Ming army was able to exchange beef, mutton and dairy products from Tatar herdsmen, and it was also able to make those Tatar tribes more determined to surrender.
While he was busy with construction, Xiao Ruxun never gave up his vigilance. He knew that defeating Kuaibai was just a prelude to entering the grassland, and more powerful enemies were still behind. He arranged a large number of scouts to patrol the grassland.
Monitor the movements of several large tribes, and also inquire about Kuaibai's whereabouts.
A few months have passed in a hurry. The fortresses on both sides of the Helan Mountain Pass have been repaired. Xiao Ruxun sent soldiers to defend, which is equivalent to advancing the defense line a big step forward. The transformation of Helan City has also been completed.
It turns out that the tents in the camp have been replaced by adobe houses, which look like a Central Plains city.
As the commander-in-chief of Ningxia, Xiao Ruxun certainly could not stay outside the border wall all day. After conquering the surrounding small tribes, he returned to Ningxia City. Su Hao had no official duties, so he simply stayed in the newly built Helan City.
, guiding everyone's work. Seeing various undertakings prospering, Su Hao also felt gratified.
On this day, several mine owners came from the mining area and discussed some mining matters with Su Hao in the temporary General Military Mansion. A fast horse galloped into Helan City and went straight to the General Military Mansion. The rider got off his horse and
He strode to the lobby and loudly reported: "Report to Deputy General Su, there is an urgent military situation!"
"Oh?" Su Hao and several mine owners were stunned. The mine owners looked at each other and said goodbye to Su Hao in unison. Su Hao asked the scout who reported the news: "Why are you so panicked?"
"Report to Deputy General Su, the general has just heard the news that Jingli Rabbit and Bu Shetu Rabbit have joined forces. The strength is said to be 100,000, and they have already moved in our direction." The scout responded.
"One hundred thousand people?" Su Hao scratched his head, "These two rabbits are crazy. They brought a hundred thousand people to attack my worthless Helan Fort in the winter. What do they want? Come on!"
"Here!" A soldier waiting nearby responded and came out.
"Go and invite Deng Zhongjun, General Xu Qian, General Zhang Qian,... and Mr. Lin to come to the General Military Mansion to discuss matters." Su Hao ordered.