Xu Youcai hesitated for a long time, shook his head, and said, "No, the Fan family's strength lies in the Xuan Mansion. Datong is already weak. Even if they want to help, they can't do much. Instead, our Xu family owes us a favor."
"Master, you have forgotten that the shopkeeper of the Fan family in Datong is Li Weiming." Butler Xu said in a low voice.
"He? He's just a shopkeeper of the Fan family in Datong. How can he help?" Xu Youcai disagreed.
"Master, we really can't underestimate this Li Weiming." Butler Xu said, "Once in a casual chat, I heard that he knew the horse bandits. Since Hutou Village cannot be moved officially, it is better to ask the horse bandits to take action."
Xu Youcai was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The bandits in Hutou Village are so numerous that even the official army cannot attack them, let alone the horse bandits."
"In fact, there is no need to capture Hutou Village at all." Xu Youcai said with a mysterious face.
"What do you mean?" Xu Youcai was confused.
Butler Xu said: "As long as Liu Heng is killed, the leaders below him will definitely fight for the position of the head of the family, and their iron field will naturally follow suit. By then, the iron field will become panicked, isn't it our Xu Great opportunity.”
Xu Youcai looked thoughtful, and after a while, he said: "It's a good idea, but as Liu Heng is the head of Hutou Village, the horse bandits can't take Hutou Village, and they can't kill Liu Heng at all."
"There is no need to go to such trouble." Butler Xu said, "There are many bandits in Hutou Village, but Liu Heng will not bring too many people to the iron yard. We can bribe the miners in their iron yard and wait for Liu Heng to come to the iron yard and let the bandits ambush Cut him off halfway."
Xu Youcai asked: "Are those horse bandits reliable? This must be kept secret and cannot be leaked in advance."
Xu Youcai said respectfully: "Don't worry, sir, they are a group of horse bandits from Daliang Mountain. They are absolutely safe."
"Okay, I'll leave the matter to you. We also have a village outside the city. When people come, they will hide in the village first." Xu Youcai picked up the bowl and took a sip of tea.
The anger was much less intense than when Butler Xu first came back.
………………
"Master, Chen Daqing is back from the iron yard." Zhao Yutu came to Liu Heng.
The sky turned completely dark, and torches were lit everywhere in the village.
During the daytime battle, the corpses left on the ground were dragged to the back hill for burial. A new layer of soil was laid in front of the wall to cover the blood stains on the ground.
On the wall, groups of bandits were patrolling, and in the wall room below, there were also gunmen guarding it.
"My subordinates pay their respects to the master." Chen Daqing bowed as he arrived.
"Is the matter resolved?" Liu Heng put down the account book in his hand and asked.
Chen Daqing said: "Huang Huai and several defected ironworks miners were removed by his subordinates. Xu's ironworks did not obtain coke ironmaking technology."
"Things are going well." Liu Heng praised, and then said, "Has the candidate been selected to replace Huang Huai? Production at the iron yard cannot be delayed."
Chen Daqing said: "Manager Chen has already selected the people to replace him. They are all veteran miners with many years of experience. There will be no problem taking over from Huang Huai. Moreover, two more miners have been selected to be the helmsmen of the two newly completed iron furnaces."
"Chen Hongtao is still qualified to be the manager of this iron yard, but you can't let down your guard and be on guard against those who have ideas about our iron yard." Liu Heng picked up the tea bowl and took a sip.
"Yes, I understand." Chen Daqing responded respectfully.
After Chen Daqing left, Liu Heng picked up the account book and continued to read by the light of the oil lamp on the table.
Dongshan Iron Yard is the top priority of Hutou Village, which is related to the stability of Hutou Village. Every time the iron yard sends the account book, Liu Heng will take the trouble to check it.
After checking the last account, Liu Heng put down the account book and rubbed his forehead with his hands.
"Master, my subordinates have cooked a bowl of noodles and drank some noodle soup to keep warm."
Li Shuheng came in with a bowl of noodles and placed it on the Kang table.
"Don't tell me, I'm really a little hungry." Liu Heng said with a smile, picked up the chopsticks, and started eating with the heat.
After a bowl of hot noodles, his cold hands were much warmer. Liu Heng put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth and said, "Brother Shuheng, your skills have improved, and the noodles you cook are getting more and more delicious. "
Li Shuheng said with a smile: "Eat more if you like, there won't be enough left in the pot."
"That's enough, that's enough." Liu Heng said, "It's not easy to digest after eating too much at night."
Li Shuheng put away the bowls and chopsticks and did not leave. Instead, he said: "The bandit suppression issue has been solved for the time being. We have established a foothold in Lingqiu. What are we going to do next? There are more than a thousand bandits in our Hutou Village. We can no longer hide it, the government will not keep watching us entrenched in Hutou Village, sooner or later there will be another bandit suppression, we have to prepare in advance."
"Brother Shu Heng, you are right to remind me." Liu Heng said, "I have also thought of this, so I gave Lingqiu County Magistrate and Shouwei 10% of the iron farm share, just to win them over and stand with us, and then Recruit other officials through them.”
Li Shuheng said with a smile: "I think it's not just that. Where is Yang Yuan? He has been gone for almost a month!"
"Haha, I can't hide anything from Brother Shu Heng." Liu Heng said, "I sent Yang Yuan to Tianjin Guard. I want to get some craftsmen from Tianjin Guard who can make cannons to come to our Hutou Village."
"You, what are you going to do with the cannon? Rebellion?" Li Shuheng looked shocked.
Liu Heng explained: "Our officials in the Ming Dynasty are all cannibals without spitting out their bones. Without strength, we will be eaten by them sooner or later. So I plan to win over them on the one hand, and expand my own strength on the other. When one day even the border troops in Datong Town can't do anything to us, we will be truly stable."
Li Shuheng opened his mouth and finally said: "You... are too courageous!"
There are more than a thousand bandits in Hutou Village. The average bandit village has two to three hundred bandits, which are all big villages. Many bandit villages only have fifty or sixty bandits. He did not expect that Liu Heng would not be satisfied even if he had more than a thousand bandits in his hands. , it needs to be expanded, and it also needs to build its own cannon.
This is definitely on the road to rebellion.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "I am also doing this to protect myself. Take this time the army suppressed bandits as an example. If we were not strong enough, we would have been wiped out by the army. I don't need to tell you what our fate would have been. Brother Shuheng, you also know."
After hesitating for a moment, Li Shuheng said tentatively: "How about we reduce the number of bandits on the mountain and arrange for them to work as miners in the iron yard. In this way, there will be fewer people on the mountain, and the government will not deliberately embarrass us."
"That's inappropriate." Liu Heng shook his head immediately.
He just hates that he is not strong enough. How could he take the initiative to weaken his own strength? You must know that the Ming Dynasty has more than 20 years left in total, and this does not count Donglu's several plunders. Otherwise, the time left for him will be even shorter. .
If you want to survive in this era, you must either become a slave or escape to the south and go to sea.
You don’t have to think about the way to the sea. There is not much difference between maritime merchants and pirates in this era. If you don’t have the strength, you will be thrown into the sea to feed the fish. As for staying in the Ming Dynasty as a slave, you have to survive several rounds of massacres first. , only when he survives can he be qualified to be a slave to Donglu.
It is impossible to be a slave by being a slave, and it is impossible to be a slave in this life.
