"Brothers, you are attentive. I often miss you old subordinates in Tokyo and Yunzhou!"
Zou Run patted Qi Daniu on the shoulder and fully affirmed this simple and brave man.
Then he asked: "Has the village changed a lot? I have been traveling around for the past three months and have rarely heard from my uncle. I only know that the village is now prosperous with thousands of people and horses, but I don't know the details. Can you tell me. "
Qi Daniu was flattered, but after thinking about it, he still gave up.
He stretched out his hand and scratched his head, and said with a smile: "I won't say anything for now. I'll have to see the leader of the village surprised later."
As soon as these words came out, the surrounding minions also burst into good-natured laughter, and the atmosphere in the marching team was very lively.
"Well, you Qi Daniu. I haven't seen you for three months, but you dare to act cunning in front of the village leader. I'll be surprised if you don't see anything when you return to the mountain later. I'll have to let my uncle hit you." Zou Runpo He pointed at Qi Daniu helplessly and cursed with a smile.
"Hehe!" Qi Daniu smiled slyly, expressing that he was confident, "It is a great joy for the village leader, Mr. Xie, to return to the mountain. The second leader was so happy to reward us that it was too late. How could he beat me? The village leader must not be scared. Me.”
Everyone was talking and making noise, and kept walking. After half a stick of incense, Zou Run finally arrived at the checkpoint of Dengyun Village on the mountainside.
It’s really a big change!
It turns out that when there were only more than ninety people in Dengyun Village, this mountain front barrier exhausted all the strength of the village, and it was just a stone wall about two meters high. Due to lack of strength, the workmanship of the wall was extremely rough. Many stones were used directly without having time to polish them, resulting in huge gaps between them. The most exaggerated place could even fit a person's fist into it.
Needless to say, the defensive capabilities of such a stronghold wall can only be said to be better than nothing.
But now, what appeared in front of Zou Run was a regular wall of wood and stone built against the mountain, more than 20 meters long and three meters high.
The entire wall is made of square bluestones, with many thick giant trees wedged in front and back to strengthen it. The gaps between the stones are also made airtight with an adhesive mixed with straw, mud and glutinous rice water. . There is a pedestrian walkway on the wall of the village, a breast wall about one meter high, and an arrow tower has been erected on each side.
At this time, the watchman in charge of the watch tower saw Zou Run and his party from a distance, and immediately beat the gongs and drums to warn. The heavy village gate was immediately closed, and groups of infantry quickly ran up the village wall, holding weapons, and entered the battle. The state is like facing a powerful enemy.
This posture immediately made Qi Daniu's face darken. He didn't care that the village leader was standing next to him, and immediately cursed:
"Good morning, Chen Xuan! I sent people up the mountain early to inform the village master of his return, so that he could be prepared to welcome him. I never thought that instead of arranging the gongs and drums to celebrate, I would actually close the gate of the village!" Qi Daniu became angrier as he spoke. , finally rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward.
"Wait a minute, Lord, watch me go up and scold this guy! He must be taught what decency is!"
"Wait a minute," Zou Run looked unhappy, but he still stretched out his hand to stop the irritable Qi Daniu and said:
"Wait a minute, someone is coming down from the checkpoint."
On the heavily guarded checkpoint, a huge bamboo hanging basket was swaying down. The basket slowly fell to the ground. A young figure climbed out awkwardly from it, and then trotted all the way to Zou Run.
The person who came was none other than Chen Xuan.
Chen Xuan, who saw Zou Run in person, immediately fell to his knees without saying a word.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
When he came up, he kowtowed three times.
"Chen Xuan is late, please punish me by the village master!" Chen Xuan raised his head and saw the village master who had not known each other for several months appeared in front of him. He was so excited that he couldn't help himself, and added in a trembling tone:
"The second head of the family took Yang and Deng down the mountain to discuss important matters with Sister-in-law Gu, the mother of Xiao Yuchi's grandson Xinxin. Before leaving, he sent an order to Er Ruan to guard the island and enforce martial law in the village. Chen Xuan accepted this important task and did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. Brother Qi Daniu sent a message in advance, but Chen Xuan did not dare to open the gate of the village without seeing the village leader, so he was not able to welcome him from afar."
Zou Run heard this and helped Chen Xuan up. Looking at his bloodshot eyes and trembling expression, he couldn't help but be filled with emotion.
"I haven't seen you in three months, but you have grown so fast that you are worthy of being temporarily in charge of the village. I was indeed right about you."
Hearing that the leader of the village did not blame him at all, but instead praised him greatly, Chen Xuan felt even more grateful. He quickly wiped away his tears with his sleeves, turned aside, and respectfully invited Zou Run to rest in the village.
But Zou Run waved his hand to indicate that this was not necessary.
"Huh... that's all. Since the situation is urgent, I will quickly go down the mountain to discuss important matters with my uncle. You can guard the village and I can rest assured. The few companions behind me are all good men who have been with me all the way from Liangshan. They have traveled a long distance and are exhausted. Let them rest in the camp."
After rejecting Chen Xuan's kindness, Zou Run arranged for several companions to stay behind to repair. He tightened his cloak again, climbed onto the horse again, adjusted to a more comfortable sitting position, reined in the reins, cheered up and said to Da Niu:
"Can you ride a horse? Order a few capable people and follow me down the mountain!"
"Hey!" Seeing that the leader of the village personally ordered the general, Qi Daniu agreed excitedly and whispered a few words next to Chen Xuan.
Chen Xuan nodded repeatedly, then ran to the checkpoint and shouted instructions.
Not long after, with a series of harsh creaking sounds, the thick village door opened a gap only wide for one person.
Several men on fast horses roared out from this narrow gap like the wind. One man and one horse, without any stagnation, showing their superb riding skills.
Qi Daniu hurriedly greeted him, and after a brief conversation, he took an empty horse, quickly turned over and sat down, and then nodded to Zou Run.
Zou Run nodded with satisfaction and raised his hand.
"Brothers! Follow our leader down the mountain!"
The wind picked up again at the foot of the mountain, and horse hoof prints as big as lamps stepped on the frozen ground. From time to time, they brought up some residual snow and clods of soil, which splashed on both sides of the official road, causing pedestrians and merchants on the road to avoid and give way.
Zou Run and his entourage rode very fast, forming a straight line on the official road.
Normally, he would not be so arrogant, but now his mood is as fast as that of a horse, very eager.
Qi Daniu and others, who were joking and cheering all the way, would not know that under the calm and smiling face of their village leader, his heart was already turbulent and the waves were surging.
It's urgent!
Zou Run clearly realized that if the current issue of unloading treasures was not handled properly, the peaceful development process of Dengyun Mountain would be interrupted immediately, the established development path would be forced to change, and the day of meeting the imperial court would come early. .
But the problem is that the current strength of Dengyun Mountain is too weak and cannot face the powerful military strength of the Song Dynasty.
Zou Run's body continued to rise and fall with the running horses. During this gap in the journey, he tried to re-analyze the information he had grasped. His brain was running rapidly in the cold wind, and he tried his best to think of ways to break the situation.
Naturally, Kong Mu Wangzheng and Mao Taigong were not the masterminds behind the scenes. Standing behind them was Dengzhou Zhizhou Wang Shizhong. The fundamental purpose of these people's imprisonment was to beat Sun Li to warn various private forces to be obedient. , the second is to eat up a large amount of low-priced private salt of unknown origin behind Mrs. Sun Xingu's back.
The first one is relatively easy to achieve. It is just for Sun Li to bow his head, go back to lead the troops honestly, and stop interfering in his private salt share.
But the second item involves the salt drying field of Dengyun Mountain. This is the fundamental secret of Dengyun Mountain at present and must not be exposed easily.
After pondering these two items over and over again, Zou Run vaguely sensed a strange smell. Suddenly, he felt blessed and realized that this was actually a rare opportunity!
As long as the true output of the salt farm is concealed and a certain share of the private salt production is used to feed these guys every month, it can not only save the treasures, but also expand the sales of private salt. In fact, there is also huge potential in the crisis. Development Opportunities!
The new discovery made Zou Run excited, and the gloom in his heart suddenly dissipated. He laughed loudly, waved the riding crop fiercely, and slapped it on the horse's buttocks.
The horses under the seats were in pain, and their speed suddenly went up to a higher level. Qi Daniu and others noticed that their village leader was speeding up, and they all started to catch up.
The distant shadow of a city not far away has gradually been revealed. Zou Run's destination is ten miles southeast of the city.
uncle! I am coming!
