Looking at Li Susu with a sweet smile and a generous face, Shen Lie was thoughtful. He must be familiar with the arms black market in Shanxi.
Something moved in my heart.
Shen Lie said softly: "Then... please."
Miss Li smiled sweetly at him again.
Li Changshi also covered her mouth with the white silk in her hand, and laughed softly: "My lord, don't worry too much, this matter... is taken care of by Su Su!"
Shen Lie quickly agreed.
It would be great if we could find a way to buy arms on the black market.
But Shen Lie always felt that the demeanor and behavior of these two women were a bit weird. As two daughters, they seemed to be too affectionate towards him, an outsider, but he couldn't tell what was weird about them.
I had no choice but to suppress this strange thought.
In the blink of an eye, it was three days later.
Sunny day.
As agreed, Shen Lie took a few capable men with him, rode horses, and under the guidance of Li Susu and several Pingyao bodyguards, left the west gate of Datong and headed for the unknown world in the northwest.
Leave Datong Mansion.
After walking westward and then southward for two days, the scenery in front of us changed. The people became sparse and the mountains and hills undulated continuously.
Looking at the continuous ridges among the high mountains not far away.
Shen Lie's eyes became dim.
Arrived here.
It should be not far from Tongguan.
The horse stopped outside a ruined city. Li Susu straightened up on the horse, leaned over and whispered: "Brother Shen is generous... This Shuozhou is no better than Datong. Don't show off when you get here. Be careful in everything." It is appropriate not to cause trouble."
Shen Lie smiled and said softly: "Yeah."
Mobilize the war horses.
Several riders entered the dark city gate of Shuozhou Prefecture. When the front suddenly opened up, they saw another extremely bustling frontier fortress market, for those coming from the south and those going from the north.
The sound of hawking on the street is endless.
Li Susu came and went often and seemed to be very familiar with this place. She led Shen Lie and others through the streets and alleys before arriving in front of a prosperous inn.
The waiter came to greet me.
A few people brought the horses into the inn, asked for a few upper rooms, and then settled in. They hurriedly put down their bows and filled their stomachs.
Li Susu took several bodyguards and secretly slipped out of the inn.
Not long after.
This Miss Li came back with a businessman from the Western Regions who had profound features and wore a long robe. She led the businessman into the upper room and closed the door...
Looking at the rattan box carried by the Western Region businessman, he opened the box and found several fine short muskets neatly arranged inside.
Shen Lie was speechless.
Are all the merchants from the Western Regions who sell arms these days so arrogant?
correct.
Soon Shen Lie understood in his heart, as bright as a bright mirror, that this place was very close to Tongguan and was a large commercial port at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi.
This arms dealer from the Western Regions naturally came from the northwest. As for why he dared to openly sell muskets in the inn.
This matter.
Let’s start with the collapse of the guard system and the rise of servant recruitment. In this era, in Shanxi and even Shaanxi, the Ming border army had long been decayed.
Any general who can fight relies on his own money to support his servants. In order to arm his servants, a general needs a large amount of arms.
But the arms made by the Ming Dynasty were of no use, so they had to be smuggled from the Western Regions.
As a result, the Ming court's control over Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and further to the west dropped sharply, which eventually led to frequent civil unrest in Gansu and Shaanxi.
Is this a civil uprising?
It was clearly a mutiny.
"Okay!"
Shen Lie no longer hesitated, picked up the muskets in the box and looked at them. These were all flintlock short guns, although they were very well made.
But Shen Lie frowned and asked softly: "Do you have a spear?"
The words fell.
The businessman from the Western Regions said firmly in blunt Chinese: "Of course there is, but..."
Shen Lie frowned.
I understand in my heart.
This posture is like sitting on the ground and raising the price!
Look at this traitorous businessman from the Western Regions.
For a while.
An unknown fire surged up in Shen Lie's heart. Looking at this profiteer from the Western Regions, his palms felt a little itchy. This was Ming Dynasty's territory!
When did our Dongchang ever experience this kind of birdiness?
Just when I was about to fall out.
Li Susu kept winking, and Shen Lie had no choice but to swallow his breath, took out his banknotes and bought these short guns first, and then discussed buying long guns.
then.
The businessman from the Western Regions stretched out a finger and said in a voice: "Self-made fire gun... long... one hundred and two rods!"
The words fell.
Shen Lieteng suddenly stood up, his temper was getting louder, he clenched his fists and was about to swing it, one hundred taels and one shot, you are trying to kill me like a fat sheep!
Thank you for daring to say this!
Li Susu was startled, and hurriedly stood between the two of them, stopping the furious Shen Lie, and then asked two accompanying escorts to drag the Western Region arms dealer away.
The door is closed.
Shen Lie's eyes were still red with anger, and he wished he could catch up and kill the profiteer with a knife. Li Susu hurriedly tried to persuade him.
"That's all...Brother Shen, calm down."
In total chaos.
It's getting late.
The unknown fire in Shen Lie's heart gradually faded away, so he sat on the stool above, playing with a short flintlock gun he bought with a lot of money, and looked at the incomprehensible Western inscriptions on the gun.
This was not the first time he had seen this inscription.
It's Ottoman writing.
presumably.
This batch of muskets came from the Ottoman Dynasty, thousands of miles away, and passed through countless hands before being sold to the northwest of the Ming Dynasty.
After that, Shen Lie picked up another short gun and looked at it over and over, but was stumped by the writing on this gun. This was a kind of writing that Shen Lie had never seen before.
It looks a bit like the Arabic script used by the Ottoman Dynasty, but it is also different.
aside.
Li Susu said softly with some fear: "This is the body poison text."
Shen Lie was stunned. He quickly ran through it in his mind, but he didn't expect where the body poison was.
a long time.
Shen Liecai looked at Li Susu's handsome and handsome face under the candlelight and asked suspiciously: "Body poison?"
What the hell is this place?
This time it was Li Susu's turn to be stunned.
Think about it.
Miss Li whispered again: "The body poison...is the Mogul. This self-generating fire gun must have come from the Mogul country."
Shen Lie was stunned.
Isn’t the Mughal Dynasty India?
What the hell?
Locked.
Shen Lie picked up the flintlock musket engraved with Mughal characters. Is it possible that in this day and age, even Indians can equip flintlock muskets on a large scale?
The nameless fire that had just faded suddenly popped up again.
Shen Lie's nose was crooked in anger.
When I think about this prosperous Ming Dynasty, the weapons and equipment of the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops were actually crushed by the Indians of the same era.
Shen Lie felt aggrieved and uncomfortable...
In anger.
Shen Lie slapped the table hard, making a soft thud.
This sound.
Li Susu was startled again, and she quickly lowered her head and fiddled with the corners of her clothes, not daring to look into Shen Lie's angry eyes.
She didn't know what taboo she had committed that made Master Shen so furious.
After a while.
Shen Lie suppressed the overwhelming anger in his heart, and then whispered to her: "I'm sorry, Shen lost his temper."
He usually doesn't lose his composure unless he really can't hold it in any longer.