Hu Xiya's words made Guo Zhenxi and Ma Hua sit down. Guo Zhenxi looked at the wrinkles on Hu Xiya's forehead, "Brother Hu, Guo has something to ask me! This is also the current problem of our Anxi Village. Anxi Village

The grain storage has been enough for thousands of us for decades, and there are many animal skins and medicinal materials, but we can't sell them! Because the Shidu people in the west and the Kangju people in the north also have these things!

The journey to the Central Plains for selling is too far, is there any way Brother Hu can sell these things to the surrounding tribes and countries?"

Ma Hua laughed, "If you have someone else's, who will buy it from you? I don't think Boss Hu can do anything about it!"

Hu Xiya signaled MCA to shut up, "General Ma, don't interrupt. Who said I can't do anything?"

Guo Zhenxi's eyes lit up, "If Brother Hu really has a way, I won't fight for anything like this!"

"Then please ask Captain Guo to take me to see your treasury. I will have to take a look at the things before I can have corresponding countermeasures!"

Guo Zhenxi hesitated for a while, "Okay, I'll take Brother Hu to see our savings over the years!"

The treasury of Anxi Village is distributed in five caves. The outside of the cave is sealed with mud and many trees are planted. It would not be visible at all if Guo Zhenxi's cronies didn't lead the way.

Three feet into the first cave entrance, there was a stone door. Everyone turned over the stone door and went in. They saw that the stone walls inside the cave were painted white, and the ground was covered with corn and wheat piled up like a mountain.

"It's not easy to store these wheat and corn for so many years!" Hu Xiya said in admiration.

Guo Zhenxi pointed down, "Brother Hu, the bottom layer is plant ash, and above the plant ash is hay. On top of the hay is a layer of wooden boards, on top of the wooden boards is a layer of lime, and on top of the lime is a layer of wooden boards. So.

Only by repeating it can we preserve these grains. Every spring and summer, we have to light a charcoal fire in the cave to dry out the water vapor!"

Hu Xiya bent down and pinched the dust and looked at it. "I admire it. It's okay to save the food, but it won't be possible to preserve the fur like this!"

Guo Zhenxi smiled and said, "Fur preservation requires ventilation and insect control. I know that!"

After viewing the five caves one by one, Hu Xiya told Guo Zhenxi his method.

"So, people in the Western Regions are good at preserving furs and these medicinal materials. In fact, they only need processing. Someone has to make the furs into clothes and boots, and make the medicinal materials! And those jade stones, they have to be polished by skilled craftsmen.

"

"We understand the truth, but there is no such person among the thousands of us. Brother Hu also saw that the boots and clothes we wear are all forcibly sewn together!"

As Guo Zhenxi said, Hu Xiya and Ma Hua looked at their feet. The boots were made of a whole piece of animal skin from the feet to the calves, and were tied up with some hemp ropes and animal sinews.

Hu Xiya laughed loudly, "In my caravan, there happen to be shoemakers, carpenters, and stonemasons. In the Western Expeditionary Army, there are blacksmiths, medics, and tailors. With the supplies you have hoarded, don't we have the best of both worlds?"

"Is this true?"

Looking at Guo Zhenxi who looked serious, Hu Xiya held his hand and said, "Seriously! After Hu returns, he must bring these people here. By then, Anxi Village can transport the clothes, shoes, hats, furniture, and medicinal materials we have prepared."

Go out and sell them! No, we have to let them bring their money and goods to Anxi Village to do business with us!"

Looking at Hu Xiya who was full of pride, Guo Zhenxi concluded that what he said was true, so he sent someone to ask Zeng Nianhua to write him a letter to Third Minister Zuo.

"Your Majesty Zuo Sanxiang, General of the Expedition to the West, is like you. Therefore, the 3,759 surviving members of the Anxi Protectorate have been left alone outside the Great Wall for more than a hundred years. Today, with the blessing of the gods and the blessing of our ancestors, the Daliang cavalry has returned to the Western Regions. Our surviving family members are eagerly awaiting their return.

I hope that the general will come to Ili quickly to rebuild the Anxi Protectorate, restore our past territory of China, and promote our national prestige. We have ten thousand tons of grain, ten thousand bolts of leather, hundreds of medicines, and a loyal heart. I only hope that I can return to China again.

It is enough to return to the Central Plains to worship our ancestors and fulfill the last wishes of our fathers and ancestors."

Hu Xiya looked at the letter and said, "Guo Duwei, Mr. Zeng, this

Don’t you mention any conditions in the letter?”

"You have agreed to help us make boots, clothes, medicine, and furniture. What other conditions do you want?"

"The position of the Protector? Or being an official or something like that? No mention of it?"

Guo Zhenxi smiled faintly, "Isn't making money from doing business much better than being a Protector-General? What do you think I am? I have a headache with more than 3,000 people. If I become a Protector-General, sooner or later I will be killed by my own people."

I'm exhausted. I'm not an official, but I still have some self-awareness. If the court can sympathize with us and give us some preferential treatment, wouldn't that be much better than being an official?"

"Ahem, Captain Guo means that he wants to be a patriotic businessman and not covet the official position in the court," Mr. Zeng added.

"I understand, I understand, Captain Guo's integrity, I will tell Marshal Zuo the truth!"

"Hold on, I remembered a condition, and I must agree to this condition, that is, you, Boss Hu, must cooperate with us in business and be our big shopkeeper!" Guo Zhenxi patted Hu Xiya on the shoulder and said.

Hu Xiya couldn't laugh or cry, "You don't need to report this condition to the court. Can't I just agree to it myself?"

"No, this needs to be reported to the imperial court and issued by the imperial court. Otherwise, if you run away by then, where will I be able to reason with you?" Guo Zhenxi said very seriously and held Hu Xiya's hand.

"Then it's better for me to be respectful than to obey. You trust me so much. If I make up for your losses in the future, you won't kill me!"

"You take me for a fool. If you make up for my loss, I will continue to let you do it until I make money back! Stop talking, I look at the weather. You have to stay here for two months before leaving.

, otherwise you won’t be able to go back!”

Hu Xiya was not polite, "That's great, but I'm afraid if you drive us away now, we will freeze like sticks on the road!"

Ma Hua came in with a roasted leg of lamb, "Hey, you guys have been talking here for a long time, and you have come up with some new terms! I think Zuo Shuai might really give you the position of General Protector. He is a pragmatic person!"

"

"Haha, I am also a pragmatic person. I am joking with you about wanting to be a Protector-General. Try to see if you are sincere and considerate! Now it seems that both of you and Zuo Shuai are sincere and considerate.

You are a heroic man, please forgive Mr. Guo for speaking out before!"

"Haha, my old horse is a rough man. He only knows how to charge into battle and show loyalty. Since Brother Guo is so sincere, my old horse cannot be vague. Don't worry, I have eaten and drank well here, and I have also seen the terrain here.

I will advise Zuo Shuai to move the new Protectorate here. If Boss Hu talks about this matter, Zuo Shuai may not listen because he is a businessman. And I am a soldier. I come from the perspective of using soldiers. Zuo Shuai

Handsome will definitely listen!"

When Guo Zhenxi and Zeng Nianhua heard this, they knelt down together, "We thank General Ma for our ancestors and everyone! If the Anxi Protectorate can be built in Yili, then our more than 100 years of perseverance will finally be in vain!"

Ma Hua and Hu Xiya hurriedly helped them up, "Hey, hey, this can't be done, it can't be done, it's going to hurt me!"

"We are all citizens of Daliang. Why is it necessary? Come and invite us! Is such a great gift meant to drive us away?"

"Hahahahaha, okay, okay, let's stop talking to each other as a family and stay here for two months to get through this snowstorm!"

In the next two months, in addition to drinking, eating meat and enjoying the snow, Hu Xiya taught them some of his rudimentary methods of tanning leather shoes.

Ma Hua was not idle either. He led more than a hundred of his men to train the strong men of Anxi Village. Guo Zhenxi also taught Ma Hua and others the skills of using the scimitar from the Western Regions.

After the beginning of spring, Hu Xiya and Ma Hua took half of their men and a dozen people from Anxi Village over the snowy mountains to return to Luntai.

Zuo Sanxiang was not idle here in Luntai either. He led a group of people to start hoeing the ground in preparation for spring sowing. The dam built by Shidu people before was put to use by Zuo Sanxiang.

After looking at the height and direction of the embankment, Zuo Sanxiang and Liu Jingchuan decided to take advantage of the situation and build a new dam.

A several-mile-long canal was excavated and connected with the lower reaches through a crescent line.

At the back of the new canal, many small ditches were dug to lead the water to the south. The land between the small ditches was square fields.

"There are many corpses of poisonous people buried in the ground here, which can be used as fertilizer!" Liu Jingchuan said, pointing to the red fields.

The soldiers who were hoeing immediately stopped when they heard this.

"Master Liu, we won't eat this kind of thing from the land of the dead!"

"Yeah, I feel sick when I hear it, and my scalp goes numb when I think about it!"

"Master Liu, why do you need to say this? How can we cultivate this field?"

Liu Jingchuan smiled and said, "Haha, have you ever eaten plums in your hometown? Tell us!"

"Well, eating them since childhood is sour and bitter, but some of them are good too!"

"Everyone here has eaten it, why does Mr. Liu need to ask more questions?"

"Does this have anything to do with our farming?"

Liu Jingchuan stroked his beard, "Peaches nourish people, apricots hurt people, and dead people are buried under plum trees. The plums you eat grow from the places where dead people's flesh and bones are buried. Those round plums are green, red, and black.

Doesn’t it look like a human eyeball?”

"Stop talking. If you say this, I will vomit out all the plums I have eaten for decades!"

"Here, Mr. Liu, you read a lot, don't scare us! This"

Zuo Sanxiang also laughed at this time, "They say it's disgusting. I haven't eaten less since I was a child, so it's actually nothing! If the food and grass are really exhausted, you will also have to eat the flesh of the dead! So in this place where people are buried

Farming is nothing! And there is no fertilizer here, and our manure pit is too far away from here. There are corpses buried here that are used as fertilizer! Don’t think too much, just plant your fields with peace of mind! When the time comes, Liu and I will plant it.

The adults will be the first to eat! You must grab it!"

General Zhengxi and the grain and grass officer both spoke, and everyone had no choice but to continue hoeing and sowing.

After planting a thousand acres of land, Ma Hua and Hu Xiya finally came back. Seeing that they were safe and sound and had brought a dozen strangers back with them, Zuo Sanxiang knew that this trip was not in vain.

After reading the letter, Zuo San bowed to the letter, "I didn't expect that there are solitary loyalists in the Western Regions! Their demands are not excessive at all! Didn't they ask for any rewards?"

"They have two requests. One is to ask Commander Zuo to report to the court and rebuild the Anxi Protectorate in Ili! The second is to ask Commander Zuo to report to the court and leave me, Hu Xiya, to them to help them do business!"

"Well, as long as the imperial court agrees to rebuild the Anxi Protectorate, I will decide where to build it. This is not a problem! The imperial court has to issue an edict to keep you here. If this is reported, the imperial court will not understand it! Just go and help them.

That’s it! If they are afraid that they have no evidence, I will give the order in the name of General Zhengxi and stamp it with a big seal!"

"Now I am reporting to the court and getting a response, I am afraid it will be two years later! Can Zuo Shuai move to Yili now? I am afraid that things will change if time is prolonged!"

Hu Xiya expressed his worries, and Zuo Sanxiang was silent for a moment.

The war with the Shidu people is over, and Sanxiang Zuo doesn't know how long he can stay in the Western Region. No one knows the new orders from the court, and if someone takes advantage of Yu Wanli's incident to make trouble, his conquest

It will be difficult for General Xi to continue.

Although the generals are outside, the families of the soldiers are all in the Central Plains. It is unrealistic to lead them to separate the country. Moreover, once this step is taken, the King of Jin will be implicated, and his reputation will be ruined.

"Well, we can move, but not all of them. I can send you and MCA to bring hundreds more people over! Well, bring all your craftsmen with you, and stabilize the compatriots in Ili first!"
Chapter completed!