Meng He, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly heard this and took a deep breath, then held his breath and waited for Yang Zhen's next words.

To be honest, the real achievements of this trip to the border area were that Li Ma's small team was brought back with all his efforts. In addition, it was the exploration of three towers, Qingluan Ridge, and Dahei Mountain.

The general situation of the gangsters in the area, if we talk about other things, is really nothing.

So Meng He was overjoyed when he heard what Yang Zhen said.

At this time, I heard Yang Zhen say to Xu Changyong: "Let's do this! This time our advance battalion for the Eastern Expedition has snatched back a group of war horses from the Manchu Tatars and also captured a group of young Tatars. Since Meng

If there is meritorious service, then it must be rewarded.

"It's going to be over here in a moment. Brother Xu, go to Lao Zhang and pick out a hundred young men. Then go to the Queen's Palace to meet Lieutenant General Zu. From there, pick out a hundred war horses and bring them back to Rufenggang. Even if it's

I’ve added it to you!”

When Xu Changyong heard that there was such a good thing, he immediately grinned and agreed: "That's great! I'm just telling you, brother, you won't make me suffer! Hahahaha!"

When Meng He, who was kneeling on the ground, heard that General Yang said that he had meritorious service, why did he reward General Xu at the end of the day? He felt depressed and disappointed when he heard Yang Zhen say to Xu Changyong again:

"Brother Xu, Li Ma is under your control and has given you another hundred men and a hundred war horses. However, my brother also has a request. This batch of Tatars should be transferred to you as soon as possible to be separated from other Mongolian light cavalry.

After compilation, we will select a hundred people from them and hand them over to Commander-in-Chief Meng Ba, who will still be under your control!"

Meng He, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly felt ecstatic when he heard Yang Zhen's words. He immediately turned around, knelt on his knees in front of Yang Zhen, kowtowed and said:

"Little Meng He, thank you, Commander-in-Chief, for your support!"

Meng He was originally recommended by Xu Changyong to Yang Zhen to recruit troops from outside the country. He had been in the army for many years, but because of his background as a Mongolian soldier, he had not been able to get an official position.

Although Yang Zhen gave him the position of commander-in-chief of the forward cavalry, he had no men under him. The few who went out with him were also temporarily dispatched by Xu Changyong, so in the final analysis, he was just a short-term commander.

.

According to the camp system of the Ming Dynasty, a general officer was in charge of a hundred soldiers. It was a real power position at the bottom of the army. It could also be regarded as a serious seventh-grade military position of eight hundred.

Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty during the Chongzhen period, the generals were almost all over the country. There were so many low-ranking officers and generals in the frontier camps like General General, especially the nominal generals who were not worth much.

There are many such short-term bosses, whether they are under Yang Zhen's original command, or under Xu Changyong or Zu Keyong. They have the salary of the boss but not the power of the boss. In the end, they are just in name only.

But now, in the blink of an eye, Meng He had a hundred light cavalry under his command. He was so excited that he felt that he was finally coming through.

Xu Changyong saw that Yang Zhen said this, and that Meng and General Meng accepted the order so eagerly. It was hard for him to say anything. Anyway, Li Ma and Meng He were all his subordinates, so he smiled

Agreed.

When Meng He saw Xu Changyong agreed, he quickly turned around and saluted him to thank him, which meant that the matter was settled.

Next, Yang Zhen asked Meng He to get up, and several people stood in the yard. He also asked Meng He to report other situations when he went to the border.

Since Meng He was appointed, he has rushed non-stop to the area of ​​​​Three Pagodas. He had been a horse thief there a few years ago. There are more or less old acquaintances among the many grassland horse thief teams in that area.

In this way, relying on the experience and connections I had accumulated in the past, I traveled to many places in the green forests, villages, valleys and caves in the front and back of Nurul Tiger Mountain.

Some familiar places have been deserted and no one is around, while some places do not buy his account at all and do not take his solicitation seriously, and some only want appointed official positions and pay.

He wanted food and pay, but he didn't want to bring his men and horses to Songshan to join the army.

Only Mazi Li, who he had worked with when he was a horse thief, was willing to come east to Songshan and serve as a soldier under his instigation, because the number of men and horses has dropped sharply in recent years, and the territory has become smaller and smaller, making him a bit unsustainable.

Eat food.

This was the final result after he went to the border areas and traveled hundreds of miles back and forth.

This time Yang Zhen asked about the situation of other grassland horse thief teams, and he told the truth. Only about Mazi Li, he could not tell the truth. After all, this is where his credit lies, and Mazi Li is now with him.

around.

After Yang Zhen heard what he said about the three pagodas outside Liaoxi, the Qingluan Mountains and the Daheishan area, he pondered for a long time, and finally said to Li Ma:

"Brother Li, based on your past experience, if the caravan coming out of Zhangjiakou goes all the way to Horqin or all the way to Mannu, they may take that road, or they may pass through what must-have paths.

Land?!"

Of course there was a reason why Yang Zhen wanted to contact the horse thieves on the grassland.

Because, having been a man for two generations, he clearly knows that at the border passes of Xuanda, those Shanxi merchants who specialize in border trade will form huge caravans and go north to trade every year. Some trade with the Northern Lu, and some trade with the Eastern Lu.

.

Many supplies from the Qing Tartar side, including military supplies, were obtained through this trade channel, such as tea, salt, cloth, arrowheads, grain, ironware, etc.

After the ninth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty and the first year of Chongde in the Qing Dynasty, the Tatar puppet emperor Huang Taiji began to determine to cast and equip heavy artillery on a large scale.

After that, fire, saltpeter, sulfur and other substances in the pass quickly became in-demand goods flowing outside the pass, and through the channels of profiteers along the border in Xuanda, they continued to flow into the hands of the enemies of the Ming Dynasty in large quantities.

Yang Zhen is now just a general training officer of the Songshan Regiment. He cannot interfere with the major affairs of the Ming Dynasty. He is powerless. He has no way to control the foreign trade of the border ports from the highest level of the Ming Dynasty. However, he can directly go from Songshan to

West, robbed the goods flowing from the pass to the grassland outside the mouth.

Not to mention whether these goods flowing out of the country ended up funding the enemies of the Ming Dynasty, just saying that this kind of foreign trade itself was illegal in the era of the Ming Dynasty. It was all smuggling and funding the enemy.

Although Emperor Chongzhen and his court ministers reacted slowly, by the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Monan Mongolian tribes outside Xuanda had already completely surrendered to the Manchus.

At this time, it is an indisputable fact that for the Ming Dynasty, it is an enemy country outside of words.

The Northern and Eastern Lu were already one family. It was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to allow the border merchants in the Xuanda area to trade with the Northern and Eastern Lu, let alone trade with the Eastern Lu.

However, what was strange about the Ming Dynasty was that it was absurd, and things that were expressly prohibited by the imperial court were still being carried out semi-openly in various frontiers of Xuanda.

If the court ministers don't care about it, how should Emperor Chongzhen take care of it? He can't even know about the existence of these tricks.

The generals in the border areas had to raise troops and support themselves, but the imperial court was always short of food and salary. What should they do? They had no choice but to participate in trade together or collect passing money.

Therefore, by the twelfth year of Chongzhen, all the major passes of the Great Wall that seemed to be heavily guarded were basically useless. Words like wind and air leaking from all sides are no longer enough to describe the serious situation.

What's more, the Manchu army united with the Beili army and broke through the border for many years. There were gaps everywhere in the Great Wall along Xuanda and Ji Town.

However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen could not afford enough money to rebuild and repair, nor could he send many troops to divide the troops and garrison them. Because recruiting troops also required money, the entire Great Wall border defense was about to collapse.

Others may not know this situation clearly, but Yang Zhen, who has lived in two generations, knows it very well.

Of course, as well as Yang Zhen knew, there were those traitorous businessmen in Zhangjiakou, as well as the Eight Banners dignitaries sitting in the capital city of Qing Tatar.

"Sir, Commander-in-Chief! What do you mean - to ask me to lead the troops in a humble position, and then go back to my old business of highway robbery?!"

When Li Ma, the new commander of the advance battalion's forward cavalry team, heard Yang Zhen's question, the first thing he thought of was to ask him to go back and continue to block the road and rob. So after asking him this question, he immediately said:

"Ahem - I don't dare to deceive you, Commander-in-Chief. The reason why I am in the Qingluan Ridge area and have a hard time is related to the fact that it is not easy to do roadblocking and robbery business now."

Speaking of this, Li Ma looked at Yang Zhen's face and saw that Yang Zhen was looking at her with interest, so he considered his words and continued:

"The horse thieves are having a hard time on the grasslands now. One reason is that there are fewer business travelers, but there are more people doing business in our business, and the second reason is that the wealthy businessmen in Xuanda are becoming more and more shrewd!

"Especially from Zhangjiakou, several merchants often go out together in groups, and there are more and more servants, bodyguards, bodyguards and boxers accompanying them. Not only are there more people and horses than our brothers, but the guys they steal are also better than our brothers!

"What do we rely on?! We can only rely on light swords, fast horses, bows and horses, riding and shooting. It's amazing. Some teams have several broken shotguns! But others have more shotguns and firecrackers than us, and

It seems like there is no end to the ammunition! I have suffered such a big loss in my humble job!"

Li Ma said this and shook his head. His pockmarked face was full of bitterness. It seemed that the team of horse thieves under his command had indeed hit hard stubble and kicked the steel plate.
Chapter completed!