Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 172 Who is the boss?

The shopkeeper Wang who lives in the Saibei Building is really reliable. He didn't look for Song Qingshu again in three days, even if he rushed to buy up all the local specialties nearby, such as walnuts, apples, and the unique spices produced by Zhidan. Let him have nothing to buy, but the old profiteer is still suffocating, and will not go to Song Qingshu, waiting for him to surrender to him.

But fortunately, just when Song Qingshu was holding back his temper, Fugutian's family, who had gone online under the banner of Gao Yingxiang a few days ago, took the initiative to find them, and bought Song Qingshu's thousands of pieces of soap They were all eaten, and they were going to be transported to the grassland at the west entrance.

Everything has been resolved this time, the backlog of goods has been dealt with, and a market will be found next time, but Song Qingshu is quite curious. I heard that in this era, Mongols only bathed three times in their lives, were born, married, and died. Washing each time, this frequency, selling soap for bathing on the grassland, isn't it selling pork in front of the monk's door, is it a waste of time?

Listening to Song Qingshu's curious inquiry, Tian Jianxiu, the head of the Tian family, dressed in Taoist robes and armor, who was refined and didn't want to be a merchant bandit, laughed heartily.

Even in later generations, Inner Mongolia is full of smoky water resources, let alone now, there are not many lakes in the vast prairie, and even if there are, they have to live and drink. Ordinary herdsmen really can’t take a few baths in their lives, but Mongolian tribes Nobles, Taiwanese, and Lamas are different. After all, they have been to the Central Plains, and they have learned more than half of the Han people's habit of bathing and enjoying themselves. They still have to take a bath frequently.

Moreover, cattle and sheep are eaten all year round on the grassland, and after a meal, the hands are often greasy and can't be washed clean. How can the nobles be as virtuous as the dirty slaves down there?In the past, bath beans in the Central Plains were very popular on the grasslands. Soaps like Song Qingshu's oil-removing ability are so strong. If they go to the grasslands, they will probably be robbed by those big and small Taiji. It is not a problem to exchange a piece of soap for seven or eight sheep. If you get it right, you can get a lot of good horses!

This is really a huge profit!The best horses can’t be bought in Daming without dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver. Even Song Qingshu doesn’t have many, and seven or eight sheep are at least ten taels of silver. The profit is more than five times. The envious Song Qingshu’s eyes are red up.

It's a pity that taking the road of Xikou is really difficult. Not only do you have to cooperate with the officers and soldiers who guard the mouth, you have to walk on the grassland all year round, and you have to have complicated relationships with Mongolian tribes, big and small. Song Qingshu doesn't have the two necessary conditions Even if you are envious, you won't be envious, so Song Qingshu had no choice but to wipe off his saliva and go to stock up.

At any rate, the goods are almost finished. The shopkeeper Wang did not come to buy the extra spices, apples, and walnuts. Anyway, it was only more than 400 taels of silver. After Song Qingshu gave some of them to Ma Maocai and Zhang Zishou, the rest was simply Packing the box, playing with Caiwei in the city for another two days, and after going to every temple for incense, Song Qingshu set foot on the road back to the guard on the morning of August [-]th.

After all, the Ming army was scheduled to take down Wang Zuogua on August [-]th. Even if he, the commander of Qingquanwei, didn't participate in the battle, he couldn't stay too far away, so he could deal with it in time if there was any change.

More than 80 soldiers and riders stayed outside the city gate for more than four days. These few days, they were not allowed to enter the city, nor were they allowed to go nearby to collect food, and they were not even allowed to train. Song Qingshu restrained them to keep a low profile. Don't cause trouble, I've already annoyed these energetic peasant army children. When I heard that I was going back to the guard, the big guys were rushing to be the first, as if it was a festival.

Impatient, the urged horse ran a little faster, without the delay of those tricycles, and drove for more than 20 miles in half an hour, but the horse was tired.

Although it is not a good horse, every big animal is extremely valuable these days. Seeing that his mount is foaming, the team had to stop on the official road under the sun.

There are deserted farmlands nearby, and if it’s not just the loess high slope, it’s really troublesome to find a water source. A large group of soldiers tied the horses together cursing, and then scattered to find water sources. In the car, Tang Ruowang still buried his head in sorting out his As for the Chinese translation of the "Bible", as for Caiwei and Li Gu'er, they are a little tired from playing these two days, and they are sleeping next to each other, forming two parallel lotus flowers.

The sun made Song Qingshu quite suffocated, he fanned his hands a few times and didn't feel much cooler, so he simply opened the carriage door and jumped down, but looking around, not to mention trees, not even a long grass in a radius of more than ten miles. No, the occasional shade is actually a large swarm of locusts flying by, which is hotter than the car.

After wandering around for a couple of times, Song Qingshu simply planned to turn around and return to the car to continue to be bored, but just as he turned his head, the guard who was driving the horse suddenly let out an ouch, and immediately cursed loudly.

"A few dead ghosts, what a damn bad luck!"

An unpleasant rancid smell rushed over, and his brows were furrowed. Song Qingshu couldn't help but push away the soldiers who were watching the fun and squeezed past. At the first sight, Song Qingshu couldn't help but cover his nose.

The side of the official road was suddenly trampled by the guards, and a big hole was created. The guard who pulled out his foot was still stained with bloody water from his pants. Out of curiosity, he used a spear to peel off the surface, under the soil layer less than [-] centimeters thick , the heads of four rotting corpses were revealed.

A few soldiers were cursing and wanted to bury the body back again, but Song Qingshu waved his hand abruptly to stop them, resisting the stench and continued to scrape the soil with his spear. After a while, the collar of his buried shirt was exposed Come out, they are all armored, and these four are all officers and soldiers!

"It's strange, this is also an arrow from the officer's army, why did it hit them themselves, and this wound is definitely left by the officer's knife!"

This fellow Li Tiezhu also squeezed in at some point. He is much more natural than Song Qingshu. He went up and pulled out a rotten corpse, and pulled out the arrowhead from the corpse, looking at this thing embarrassingly mumbling.

In this sensitive period, no matter how small things can make people tense, Song Qingshu frowned even deeper after listening to Li Tiezhu's words. Swallowed a soldier to order.

"Go back to Fucheng immediately, go to the government to report the case, and find a foreman to come over and identify these people!"

"Little obedience!"

…………

A few officers and soldiers died, and it was not long after they died. Zhang Zishou in the government office was obviously shocked, so he sent Ma Maocai to send a few capable butchers over for an autopsy. However, it was too hot today, and the face of the corpse was bitten by repellent insects. Song Qingshu couldn't recognize his identity beyond recognition, which made Song Qingshu's heart twist.

But this was the officer's own business, so Zhang Zishou sent someone to Du Wenhuan's army to ask if Li Zichong, his aide, had arrived safely, while Song Qingshu went on his way back home in a sullen mood.

After leaving for five days, it seems that there is not much change in the guard. In a city, Scarface and Old Man Xing divided the army. They should farm and irrigate. Only the corn stalks in the field grew taller than when they left. some.

In fact, this year was also a missed farming season, and the seedlings were only planted at the end of June. Fortunately, the environment of Nanniwan here is considered to be first-class on the loess high slope, with sufficient water resources for irrigation, fertile yellow loam soil and some paddy soil to provide nutrients. , These crops are obviously growing much better than when they were in Funiu Mountain. Looking at the large green area, Song Qingshu's depressed mood can be regarded as a little better.

I also said hello to come back today, Scarface, Liu Zongmin, these main generals and hundreds of guards lined up at the gate of the small valley where the guard station was stationed early, Scarface, Liu Zongmin and Zhao Sheng who lighted the lamp are corrupt Putting on an iron armor, the peasant army behind still wore paper armor, but the paper was also painted black, and the lineup was quite neat after long training.

"I have seen all the commanders! Welcome back to the camp, my lord!"

Song Qingshu's car had just stopped aside, and more than 600 pro-Hun peasant soldiers had already knelt down while holding their weapons amidst Scarface's furious roar. He picked up Scarface and the others quickly, but suddenly Scarface raised his head and gave him a wink, and hit his chest.

Although it was a little unclear, Song Qingshu, who had already got a tacit understanding, still cooperated with his pretentious posture. He spun his big leather boots around in front of the crowd a few times, and then roared out in satisfaction.

"All commanders, please!"

"Thank you, sir!" Amidst another tidy roar, these troops loyal to Song Qingshu still stood up neatly. Looking at the square formation, Song Qingshu still felt a little proud. The nearby grass valley borrowed food, and they often had armed conflicts with the landlords. Now these more than 600 people can be regarded as powerful fighters, comparable to the personal soldiers of the generals.

There are more than 600 personal soldiers, and they can be regarded as number one in this land of Qinchuan!

"Form up, go back to camp!" Scarface yelled again, and the six centurions quickly formed a long queue, and trotted toward the cave dwelling where they were stationed in the guard with neat steps.

It can be regarded as a small military parade, Song Qingshu was in a happy mood as he was satisfied to see himself leave the field with this little capital, and waved his hand to let Li Tiezhu take the things back to the cottage with his own soldiers, while he had a smiling face, smiling Walking towards Scarface.

"Which song is this one singing?"

"You may not be in such a good mood later." Looking at Song Qingshu's happy appearance, Scarface shrugged helplessly.

His prophecy was really accurate. Following a dozen or so personal guards and three trusted officers entered the guard, Song Qingshu's complexion immediately darkened. In a large street to the west of the guard, there was a phantasm everywhere. The scene of the banquet, taking out the food and wine "borrowed" from the nearby landlord's house, the peasant army in Funiu Mountain is really like the New Year, singing and dancing.

Song Qingshu is Commander Wei!For major events like festivals and celebrations, he had to approve a note. Although it seemed incongruous, Old Man Xing's blatant shaming of his face, especially when he was not around, really made Song Qingshu feel unhappy.

"There's another day to be August [-]th, so what's the point of celebrating in advance?" Song Qingshu muttered angrily with a stomach full of dissatisfaction. Hearing the question, Scarface suddenly winked at Liu Zongmin.

Look at the scarred face that shrank back, and then look at the lamp that hid earlier, Liu Zongmin also shrank his neck a little, and said in a muffled voice: "Then why does Mr. Li from Qi County have to leave today, Mrs. Hong Niang The leader specially arranged a banquet for him to see him off."

These words obviously made Song Qingshu stiff, but unexpectedly, he didn't get angry, but walked two steps quickly, humming and muttering.

"Just put it on."

They looked at each other in surprise, followed by Song Qingshu, Liu Zongmin and the other three hurried up again...

(End of this chapter)