In the eastern plain, Huang Taiji led his troops to fight. The Eight Banners cavalry held the cold sabers and drove away a group of ragged servants to attack the fort built by another force.

The Eight Banners are crowded with people, like locusts.

In Huang Taiji's eyes, except for the Eight Banners, other low-level troops were just cannon fodder, which was used to consume the arrows of the fort defenders.

The fort defenders exhausted their bows and arrows, and could only use flying stones to throw Huang Taiji's Eight Banners Army.

Flying stones are also an effective way to kill enemies. Whether in ancient Eastern or Western civilizations, there were special "throwing soldiers", and the weapons used were stones.

The flying stones thrown by the fortress owners were hit by every shot, and at least dozens of Eight Banners troops were killed by the flying stones.

The Eight Banners Niulu, who was responsible for supervising the battle at the fortress, was hit by the front of the storefront by the flying stone of the fortress owner, and his front teeth were cracked and he was even killed.

The Eight Banners Niulu's death had a great impact on the morale of the Eight Banners Army. The Eight Banners Army retreated like a tide.

Even Huang Taiji frowned and had no choice but to do anything to the fort for a moment.

In this world, kings, princes, generals and ministers, Ruyun, and Huang Taiji could not achieve equal push. When he encountered a dock, he had to pay a huge price to win the dock.

"My troops are not enough to sweep the plains, and the rest are all tough guys."

Huang Taiji had a cold look and chose to withdraw after the Eight Banners Army lost hundreds of people.

There are many forces in this plain that can compete with Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji chose to withdraw his troops, continue farming, and wait for the autumn harvest.

The fort defenders finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the locust-like Eight Banners Army retreating.

The owner of the fort stood on the broken fort, majestic in size, like an iron tower, looking down at the retreating Eight Banners Army below.

This time they repelled the Eight Banners Army, but they may not be so lucky next time.

Huang Taiji did not have the opportunity to take down this fort, but he was unwilling to pay a terrible price. There were other forces watching the wall.

In Xia Village, the injured Sun Shangxiang has recovered most of the time and has someone built a swing in the backyard and sat on the swing boredly.

Sun Shangxiang has not yet recovered to the point where he can ride a horse and chop it.

"Sister Mulan, have you fed Zhang Hua well?"

When Sun Shangxiang saw Mulan in and out, she blinked.

“…”

Mulan was speechless.

Sun Shangxiang named her war horse "Zhang Hua". During Sun Shangxiang's injury, Mulan was fed on her behalf.

"Zhang Hua saved my life for now. I will be better at him in the future."

Sun Shangxiang talked to herself, and Mulan didn't know whether she was referring to Zhang Hua or the mount of a war horse.

At this time, Zhang Hua was inspecting the farmland in Xia Village to check whether there were droughts and locust plagues.

The crops grown in Xia Village include traditional grains, new crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, potatoes, as well as vegetables and fruits such as winter melon, watermelon, Chinese cabbage, etc.

Farmers from all dynasties gathered all kinds of seeds from crops and tried them all in the first year. Anyway, the land was wide and the population was sparse.

At the turn of summer and autumn, a batch of food will mature.

In addition, different crops need to be sown in different seasons.

For example, winter wheat can be grown in late October or November.

Potatoes are highly adaptable and you can consider planting for two seasons a year.

Zhang Hua couldn't help but think of the greenhouse planting technology in later generations. Unfortunately, in ancient times, there was a lack of plastic film, glass, and fertilizers. The cost of using greenhouses to grow crops was too high.

"Sir, an envoy came from the eastern plain to visit our village."

"Why are there another envoy? Could it be that Huang Taiji has not given up yet?"

Last time, Zhang Hua deliberately humiliated the envoy sent by Huang Taiji, believing that Huang Taiji would not put down Beile's airs and repeatedly recruited him.

If you are rejected once, you can say that everyone has their own ambitions. If you take the initiative to put your face over after being rejected once, you will be a shameless person.

"No, this person claims to be a subordinate of salt merchant Zhang Shicheng, and came to lobby us for business with Yancun."

"Zhang Shicheng? A very familiar name."

Zhang Hua frowned and suddenly remembered that this was not the prince who was entrenched in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and competed for the world with Zhu Yuanzhang?

Zhang Shicheng seemed to be a salt citizen. He not only helped the Yuan Dynasty transport salt, but also sold private salt. After coming to this world, Zhang Shicheng started his old business again.

In addition to Huang Taiji's Eight Banners Army, Zhang Hua discovered another force in the eastern plains - Zhang Shicheng's Salt People.

Chen Qiao pondered: "The sixteen villages including our Xia Village are indeed short of salt. If you have a way to buy salt, it may solve the urgent problem."

"I'm afraid that Zhang Shicheng will raise the price. If Zhang Shicheng controls salt production, the nearby villages will be subject to Zhang Shicheng."

Zhang Hua knows the power of economic means.

As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the government implemented the official operation of salt and iron, and regarded salt as a strategic material as as important as iron, and was an important source of taxation.

If you sell private salt for more than a few pounds, you will be sentenced to death.

Zhang Shicheng came to him on his own initiative, and the salt price would definitely be very expensive.

Chen Qiao said: "If we buy salt from Zhang Shicheng and sell it to villagers at a higher price, we can also make a difference."

Zhang Hua looked at the minister of Southern Tang with a different eye.

Sure enough, there is no fuel-efficient lamp for those who are in the upper hand.

"If the cost is transferred to the villagers, it is naturally feasible, because they are people who use salt directly. But in this way, Zhang Shicheng still gained the greatest benefit... Let's go and meet Zhang Shicheng's envoy for a while."

Zhang Hua and Chen Qiao returned to the village and met the envoy sent by Zhang Shicheng.

The envoy sent by Zhang Shicheng was a military general, with five large and three thick hands, rough hands, and traces of salt people's origin: "In the next day, Zhang Shide was Zhang Shicheng's younger brother. He came to plan a business matter with your village and was willing to exchange salt for rice."

Zhang Shicheng sent his brother Zhang Shide to negotiate, which shows his sincerity.

However, Zhang Hua shook his head: "You should also know that before the harvest of crops, there is a shortage of food in various places and it is difficult to survive. If you have rice and salt, you can barely survive. If you have salt or rice, you can use iron and gold and silver to exchange for salt with you."

Zhang Hua will not sell grain easily until he has enough grain reserves.

Zhang Shicheng and Zhang Shide brothers, the resource they most want to buy is grain. I heard that Zhang Hua refused to exchange salt for rice, but in addition to regret, he became interested in Zhang Hua's iron ore again.

"If your village has high-quality iron, our salt village can exchange it with high-quality salt. In addition, it can also be exchanged with silk, cattle and sheep."

As a vendor from a salt village, Zhang Shide focused on trade and was not restricted by valorizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. He tried to exchange salt from Yancun for other materials produced in Xiacun.

"There is no problem with these. The real difficulty lies in how to transport materials? As far as I know, Huang Taiji is powerful and may rob our goods halfway through at any time. Does your salt village have the strength to transport salt?"

Zhang Hua began to test the strength of the brothers Zhang Shicheng and Zhang Shide.
Chapter completed!