Amidst the laughter, they heard the intensive sound of hoofbeats. It was the large group of light cavalry sent by the Jinshan garrison to respond.
The cavalry general leading the team was the one who joked with Ge Qingshu before. He rode his horse and rushed in front of Ge Qingshu. After seeing that he had no arms or legs, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Good guys, the scout just reported that the entire Mongolian tribe was in riot at the foot of Ban Mountain. I thought you were all going to die." Well, I have to collect the bodies for you this time!"
The two of them laughed and cursed at each other, and Ge Qingshu said: "The Mongolian riot is real. Those Mongolians knew the news that Genghis Khan was going to march westward, and planned to rush back to the grassland overnight. But it's okay now."
"Those bitches really dare to do whatever they want? How to solve it?"
The cavalrymen glanced back and forth at the group, and Tong Kong shrank slightly: "I didn't see Shi Moya first... did you and the Mongols start a fight? Shi Moya died first?"
"Haha, he can't die!" Ge Qingshu didn't answer, he just slapped Lu Wusi on the back hard, then turned to the cavalry general and said: "You guys can continue to Banshan, and support Shi Mo first. .”
"Am I supporting the scene for him? The Khitans are rebelling!"
The cavalrymen were all blowing their beards and staring, and they were not slow in their movements. They took the smoke away with their subordinates.
After returning to Jinshan, Ge Qingshu went into the city to report to Zhao Xuan, while the other soldiers were resting on the grass outside the city gate, waiting for several newly established government officials in the city to come and receive them from Lakshen Qianhu. Bring back gifts.
Some of them were ordered to be sent to their residence by the thousands of Lakshen families at the banquet last night, and some of them were scraped together by a few hundred families who were lucky enough to survive this morning. But the breed is very single, only sheep, sheep of various colors and bleating sheep.
These small tribes from the grasslands originally had nothing good to offer.
Since Ding Haijun has placed them, he has some understanding of their family background. These small Mongolian tribesmen had not had many opportunities to follow the Mongolian army south to fight and plunder, so they had little gold, silver, copper coins or other Han products on hand. Therefore, what can be regarded as property in the entire tribe is nothing more than some livestock.
Generally speaking, at this level, most of the hundred households are old nobles on the grassland. This kind of person can have more than a hundred slaves, two to three hundred horses, and a flock of four to five thousand sheep in his family. If he lives in the land of abundant water and grass in southern Monan for a long time, he will more or less raise a few cattle. A ten-captain or an ordinary Harachu is also a herdsman. Each family has at most four or five horses and fifty sheep.
Apart from these herds, a tribe has no commendable property. Even the food they store is mostly dried mutton that is on the verge of decay, or animal meat of unknown origin. At most, they can take out a can of cheese, which contains Also mixed with wool and even dung pellets.
From a certain perspective, these grassland peoples are poorer than the savage tribes living in the northeastern interior.
Although the natural environment in the northeastern hinterland is harsh, the local products are very rich, and most tribes do a little farming besides fishing and hunting, so their income is relatively stable.
In the past few years, the trade routes in the northeast where Qunmu is located have regularly dealt in more than a dozen types of bulk goods or luxury goods.
In addition to horses, specialties such as mink, ginseng, beeswax, pine nuts, hounds, and sea greens are very popular in the jurisdiction of Dinghaijun. In these days, there were also Jurchens who went south specifically and were hired by the army to train dogs and herd eagles.
Compared with this, the grassland peoples are in a bit of embarrassment. The products they can provide are more expensive and less diverse, and the fragile ecology of the grasslands makes these outputs still in an unstable state. Not to mention that due to the war, the grasslands and the Central Plains could not trade normally.
These tribes who have defected to Ding Haijun can give out a few hundred sheep, which is already a generous sum. But these few hundred sheep are just a few tooth sacrifices among the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the entire Jinshan Province.
"this……"
Ge Qingshu sat opposite Zhao Xuan, frowning and thinking.
Zhao Xuan looked at Ge Qingshu, with an expression that looked like he was studying for an exam, half smiling but not smiling.
The soldiers and generals of the Ding Navy were generally very young. A commander like Zhao Xuan, who was in charge of an important military area, was only in his mid-twenties, and Ge Qingshu, the capital general, was only in his early twenties. This makes discussions in the military more like interactions between peers, without many complicated rules.
】
At this time, Ge Qingshu was thinking about something and crossed his legs habitually, but no one thought it was rude.
"Commander, I heard a while ago that Marshal Guo wants to restore the overall situation behind Monan Mountain to what it was three years ago in Da'an. That is to push the control area back to the boundary trench. I heard in the military academy that along the boundary trench Two hundred military forts, housing more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians..."
Zhao Xuan nodded: "In addition, in the future we will attract Han refugees from the grassland to return, so it will be at least 30,000 to 50,000 more people."
"That's right!" Ge Qingshu patted his thigh: "With so many people, their daily expenses are like gold and silver. Even if we can cultivate on the spot, food, clothing and housing are all a waste. Although Marshal Guo's territory It is getting bigger and bigger, and it may not be easy to maintain this situation. At this time, you are still thinking about making a fortune for the Mongols? This is not... this is not..."
The word "nonsense" was about to come out of his mouth, but Ge Qingshu reacted in time and suppressed it back in his mouth.
He stretched his neck to look at Zhao Xuan's expression: "Commander, although I am not from Northern Xinjiang, I also know that the Mongols are fierce and cunning, and their desires are insatiable. I can win them over by relying on wealth and wealth. It is extremely difficult! Still! You have to rely on the knife to be reliable!”
Zhao Xuan laughed: "You are right, but what if this wealth cannot be achieved only by the Mongols, but they must be firmly tied to us in order to obtain it continuously?"
Ge Qingshu rolled his eyes: "Ahem, please stop beating around the bush, what is this wealth..."
"Follow me!" Zhao Xuan led Ge Qingshu out of the military camp, walked around the inner city twice, and came to a newly built place.
This place was originally an empty place. Not long ago, dozens of parallel rows of large houses were built in accordance with the requirements of the Marshal's Office. River water was diverted from the outer city and flowed through the open channel. Ge Qingshu thought this was a military camp, but Zhao Xuan went to take office this time, and he brought with him a large amount of supplies to supplement Jinshan City. These materials were stored here, so Ge Qingshu thought it was a warehouse.
But at this moment, when he followed Zhao Xuan inside, he only saw many craftsmen busy.
These craftsmen also came here with Zhao Xuan before. Ge Qingshu guessed that they were blacksmiths or the like. But now it seems...
Ge Qingshu hurried forward and realized that they were divided into four groups. One group was breaking up the wool, soaking it in clean water and scrubbing it; the other group was holding a long bow and flicking the washed wool until it was fluffy.
The tasks of the other two groups of craftsmen are more complicated: one group recombed the wool, spread it on the stone floor, poured warm water on it, covered it with stone slabs, and pressed it layer by layer; the other group twisted the wool with thread , and then put away the equipment for knitting.
"The felt produced on this side is good for making blankets and tents; the felt produced on the other side is slightly thinner, but suitable for cutting, and can be used to make clothes and robes."
Zhao Xuan smiled and said: "This time the Du Fu Marshal's Office sent tens of thousands of felt clothes. They are old materials from the Zhongdu Fu's treasury and are for our emergency use. In two months, we will be able to produce local felt cloth. , felt clothing. This is a good product for keeping warm. It is sold in both the northeastern mainland and the Central Plains. As long as we agree on the price with the left and right department and transport it to Zhongdu, we can directly exchange it for money and supplies. Most of it will be used as money in the north. If we allocate a small part of the consumption of the territory, it will be enough to make those Mongolian tribes fall to the ground!"
Zhao Xuan was a merchant who traveled to northern Xinjiang, and he had already had some ideas about the wool business. Before he took office in Jinshan. Guo Ning also specifically ordered him to try his best to find financial resources on the grassland, and not to follow the old path of the Great Jin Kingdom and turn the many military states behind the Monan Mountains into a bottomless pit that consumes the navy's military resources and wealth.
In the past few days, he had personally watched the progress of the opening of the wool spinning factory. Today, he was sure that all the processes had been smoothed out. He was in a very happy mood, so he brought Ge Qingshu to have a look. Among them, naturally there is also the idea that when he takes office as a new official, he must take some measures to convince his subordinates.
But Zhao Xuan's somewhat proud expression soon turned into surprise.
In front of him, Ge Qingshu stood in front of the knitting equipment and looked at it, and praised: "So that's it. Is this the so-called double twist knitting? I heard that the felt made in this way is a bit too tight. , it’s not fluffy enough, so it’s a bit poor at keeping warm, but fortunately it’s very sturdy. Is this kind of felt worth twenty guan in Zhongdu?”
The more Zhao Xuan listened to him, the wider her mouth opened. By the time Ge Qingshu started commenting on the characteristics of the wool, whether it was horizontal or vertical when opening and closing his mouth, Zhao Xuan's mouth was already open enough to stuff an entire egg.
