A quarter of an hour later, Zhao Wen sat in the lobby of the garrison and looked at everyone.

"Someone from Horqin's department came just now, and they brought important military information!"

Zhao Wen opened the bamboo tube and took out a piece of kraft paper.

"This piece of kraft paper was sent by Borzigit Khan of the Horqin tribe. According to their observations in the past few days, there are obvious signs of an increase in the number of Jiannu troops near Xifengkou. Moreover, the increased number of troops are all Eight Banners soldiers.

By the time he sent me the military information, Jiannu already had thousands of troops at Xifengkou, and they were still growing."

Zhao Wen took the brown paper and said slowly to everyone in the hall.

"Sir, what are your plans?" Liu Wenzhong looked at Zhao Wen and asked.

Zhao Wen put down the brown paper in his hand and said, "I want to hear your opinions!"

"Sir, beat them, send troops to attack them directly." Zhao Daniu stood up directly and shouted with a fierce look on his face.

Song Hu also said: "Daniu is right, we have to beat them. Beat them to pieces directly outside Xifengkou, and see if they still dare to come."

Zhao Wen frowned and looked at the two of them, scolding: "Fight? Beat them? To put it lightly, sending troops for no reason is tantamount to rebellion. Even if we repel Huang Taiji, what benefits will we get?

You know, the imperial court does not know that Huang Taiji is planning to detour to Xifengkou. Even if we defeat Huang Taiji, the imperial court does not recognize our contribution. Isn't this a business at a loss?"

When Zhao Daniu and Song Hu heard this, they immediately shut up.

"Sir, what I mean is to wait and see what happens!" Liu Wenzhong stood up, holding a goose feather fan in his hand, and said slowly.

Nowadays, Liu Wenzhong is the only famous scholar in Longmen Fort. He usually thinks of himself as Zhuge Liang, so he got himself a goose feather fan.

Although there were many scholars who defected to Zhao Wen on weekdays, they were all rotten Confucian scholars who could not bear the weight of their shoulders and could not lift their hands. They could only talk eloquently but could not do the facts. So Zhao Wen rejected them.

In this way, Liu Wenzhong became the only famous scholar in Longmen Fort.

Moreover, Liu Wenzhong was quite capable and was able to manage the entire Longmen Fort obediently during the period when Zhao Wen was away from Longmen Fort.

Even rebellious warriors like Song Hu were obedient to Liu Wenzhong.

"I think so too. Huang Taiji is now stationing troops at Xifengkou, so we can attack it. But Xifengkou is too far away from us. If we take a detour from the grassland, it will be a waste of time. But if we don't make a detour, we

The court will definitely notice it. It’s better to just wait and see what happens.”

Zhao Wen nodded and strongly agreed with Liu Wenzhong's opinion.

"Sir, we can't take the initiative to attack. We can let Horqin take the initiative. Based on the military information coming from Horqin in the past few days, I found that the troops preparing to break through the Xifengkou this time are not only Jiannu, but also many others.

The Shao Tatars, except for Horqin who did not go, also had the Khalkha and Chahar tribes. Both tribes sent troops to support Huang Taiji.

These two tribes sent troops to support Huang Taiji, so their tribe must be empty. I thought, we can let the Horqin tribe harass the rear of these two tribes. Even if we can't disturb their military morale, it would be good to grab something from them.

of."

Liu Wenzhong gently shook his goose feather fan and said with some grace.

Zhao Wen nodded and said: "Your method is good, so I'll leave this matter to you. It doesn't matter whether it succeeds or not. Anyway, our weapons are powerful and our soldiers are elite."

Zhao Wen looked at Zhao Daniu and others, "You can't be idle either. You have been training to death for me these past few days. You must always be prepared."

In Xuanzhen, Fan Jiayuan Fuxiang's headquarters welcomed an extremely distinguished guest today. Even Fan Zheng had to stand five miles outside Xuanzhen to greet him.

Fan Zheng led a large group of people from Xuan Town and stood on both sides of the official road outside the city.

It was already noon, and the weather was extremely hot for nearly June.

Fan Zheng kept wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking ahead anxiously.

Just when Fan Zheng was upset, a carriage appeared on the official road.

Although this carriage does not look very luxurious, the horses pulling it are all fine war horses. The carriage is also much larger than ordinary ones.

There is a Fan family flag on the roof of the carriage. This flag is much larger than ordinary flags.

On both sides of the carriage, there were more than twenty men riding war horses, carrying long swords at their waists, and even carrying bows and arrows.

There were several carriages behind the carriage, but the carriages behind were far inferior to the carriages in front.

"I'm coming!"

Fan Zheng looked surprised and hurriedly greeted him.

But before he could reach the carriage, an old and deep voice came from inside the carriage, "There is no need to greet him here, just go back to Yuan Fuxiang."

When Fan Zheng heard this, he had no choice but to lead the people behind him and follow the carriage respectfully towards Xuanzang Town.

More than half an hour later, Fan Zheng stood in the hall of Yuan Fuxiang's backyard, looking respectfully at the old man sitting on the main seat.

The old man wore a round-neck shirt embroidered with copper coin patterns. He had a green jade ring on his right thumb and held a wooden crutch with pulp in his hand.

This person is none other than Fan Yongdou, the head of the Fan family.

Fan Yongdou looked at Fan Zheng and said with a smile: "You are the hero of our family, so you don't need to be so polite."

Fan Zheng hurriedly replied: "My nephew dare not make any mistakes in front of the head of the family."

Fan Zhengnai is Fan Yongdou's nephew. He is the son of Fan Yongdou's father's brother, and Fan Yongdou's father's brother is just a concubine.

It stands to reason that it is impossible for a concubine to give birth to a son and reach the level of the head of the Fan family, but who gave Fan Zheng a shrewd mind and Fan Yongdou's support?

"Do you know why I came to Xuanzhen?" Fan Yongdou looked at Fan Zheng.

Fan Zheng looked puzzled. When he came to Xuanzhen, he was not informed of the reason for coming to Xuanzhen. He was only told that he was coming to Xuanzhen, and nothing else was said.

Fan Yongdou looked at Fan Zheng, who looked confused, and said slowly: "I came to Xuanzhen this time for no other reason than for the cement factory in Xuanzhen."

"Cement factory? This cement factory is doing well now and is in vigorous production. There is nothing major happening at the moment." Fan Zheng asked.

Fan Yongdou looked at Fan Zheng who didn't know why. He slammed the crutch in his hand on the ground and said with dazzling eyes: "I think you also know the benefits of the cement plant. These millions of taels of silver every year are still nothing."

Pure profit. How great would it be if all this money belonged to the Fan family?"

Fan Zheng was greatly surprised when he heard this.

"Master, this is impossible, this is simply impossible. You don't know who Zhao Wen is, but I know very well. This guy is a person that no one recognizes. He was just a soldier at the time, and he dared to kill him

General Soldier. What's more, he is now a garrison at Longmen Fort, with thousands of elite soldiers under his command. If we snatch it from him, the consequences will be disastrous." Fan Zheng was afraid that Fan Yongdou would do something unpredictable, so he hurriedly tried to persuade him.

road.

Fan Zheng immediately thought of Fan Yongdou's idea. In recent years, as the strength of Shanxi merchants has expanded, the Fan family has secretly annexed many merchants.

Now Fan Yongdou's words clearly mean that he wants to annex the cement factory.

But is the cement factory really that easy to annex? Others don't know who Zhao Wen is, but Fan Zheng knows it all.

But Fan Yongdou didn't seem to listen to Fan Zheng's words at all. He said impatiently: "Zhao Wen is strong, but he is not the only one in the world who is strong. There are many people stronger than him."

"Fan Hua, come and tell Fan Zheng why we are here today." Fan Yongdou looked at his son.

Fan Hua is four or five years older than Fan Zheng, but because he takes good care of himself, he looks younger than Fan Zheng.

"Haha, if this matter happened before, we wouldn't have dared to think about it, but it's different now." Fan Hua chuckled twice and looked at Fan Zheng with a playful expression.

"Why is it different?" Fan Zheng was puzzled.

Fan Hua looked at Fan Zheng, who looked confused, and said slowly: "Huang Taiji knows, right? We have established a comprehensive cooperative relationship with Huang Taiji. Now Huang Taiji has stationed troops at Xifengkou, and it won't be long before they enter."

The Great Wall. Even if the capital cannot be conquered by then, it will still wreak havoc in the capital.

You tell me, if Huang Taiji wreaks havoc here in Xuan Town, will Zhao Wen survive? Even if he can survive, how many soldiers and horses will be left in his hands? By then, won't this cement factory be

Is it ours?"

"What?" Fan Zheng's expression changed drastically when he heard this.

Fan Hua looked at Fan Zheng who looked shocked, and continued: "We have obtained the garrison strength and defense map of Xifengkou, and now they are in the hands of Huang Taiji. I believe that it won't be long before Huang Taiji

The army will go south. The imperial court placed heavy troops at Shanhaiguan, but who would have thought that Huang Taiji would detour to Xifengkou?"

The more Fan Zheng listened, the more frightened he became. By the end, he was sweating profusely and his body was trembling.

Although he is the boss of the Fan family, he is only responsible for business matters, and there are many things he does not know.

Shanxi merchants had always been in contact with Jiannu, and he knew about it. But he thought that the relationship between Shanxi merchants and Jiannu was just about selling grain, but he didn't expect that it had reached the point of betrayal.

If the court knew about this, wouldn't it be a capital crime of confiscating the family and exterminating the clan?

Although Fan Zheng likes money and making money very much, he still has his own bottom line, which is not to make money from betraying the country.

Although sometimes he had to give food to the slaves, it was beyond his control. Selling food to the slaves was Fan Yongdou's final decision, and he had no way to intervene.

Although Fan Zheng, the big shopkeeper, is majestic and powerful, if Fan Yongdou really wants to remove him, it can only be done with one sentence.

Last time, Fan Zheng knew that Zhao Wen was responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the food for Jiannu on the grassland, but he did not expose it. In his opinion, even if all the food was fed to pigs, it would be a waste.

It was better than being a slave. So Fan Zheng didn't even bother to ask about that matter.

Fan Zheng was the son of a concubine. He had no status in the Fan family since he was a child and was not well-liked by others. Sometimes he was even worse than a slave. Over time, he developed perseverance.

.

Moreover, Fan Zheng's parents died early, and he had to rely on constantly pleasing people to survive in the Fan family since he was a child.

In this way, Fan Zheng's heart was tempered to be extremely strong.

For the Fan family, Fan Zheng felt more disgust than attachment. After all, his parents were forced to death by the Fan family. He thought about revenge, but this was unrealistic. The Fan family was the leader of Shanxi merchants, and he was just a big shopkeeper.
To be continued...