"kill!"

Amid the neat shouts, the four teams of servants divided into two sides, fighting with spears with spearheads, and stabbing each other.

Not far away, the prisoners of the government army watched the servants compete and looked like they were used to it. They had been arriving in this vast desolate river valley for more than half a month. In addition to working, they also had to participate in training every day.

"Captain He, do you think you will recruit servants after your grandfather comes back?"

Among the prisoners, several young people who performed more ambitiously during this period came to Lao He and asked in a low voice.

"How do I know that if you have this leisure time, you might as well think about practicing martial arts well."

Old He glanced at the young people. At present, there were many young people with such thoughts among the prisoners. Everyone had seen Gao Jin's generous manner. Who wouldn't want to be taken as a servant by Gao Jin? This is much better than the official army in the Imperial Palace.

"Old He, what did you think this high man is doing? It's been more than half a month, why haven't you come back yet?"

He drove away a few young people from Lao He's team. Tu San was next to Lao He and said, "He is also a veteran soldier in the Hekou Fort official army. He has nine prisoners under his command. He is much younger than Lao He. He is just in his early thirties and is usually a kind of hob-like figure in the fortress.

"What do you ask about this? If you want to die, don't implicate me."

Old He glanced at Tu San and cursed. Tu San immediately changed his face and replied, "Old He, you can't talk nonsense. I'm just asking?"

"Ask me, if you have any good intentions, please ask the person with the surname Ma?"

Old He said to the Ma Jun who was commanding the servants not far away, and the Tu San was completely silent. The Ma Jun was a cruel man in the fortress. That day he also watched how the Ma Jun dealt with Zhang Gui's son. His bloody face now scared him when he recalled.

"Dog thing, do you think you can run away?"

Seeing Tu San retreating, Lao He cursed that Tu San's family was a little rich, so he naturally didn't want to be a servant. He just wanted to get out as soon as possible. But this idiot didn't think about it. Zhang Gui was a householder, and Gao Jin killed Zhang Gui regardless of whether it was a personal grudge or not. If it was reported, it would be a rebellion for officials. If Zhang Gui's death was not settled, no one of them would want to go back.

...

Li Laogen came back happily with a big cart, loading rice, flour, grain and oil on it, and the latter carts hired from Gubei Village pulled wood and bricks. Since the autumn began, the Gubei Village has become more and more lively, and caravans from the south have been continuously brought in a steady stream, bringing all kinds of goods.

"Manager Wei, everything is here."

After parked the car at the entrance of the valley, Li Laogen reported to Mulan that he was an old man and was familiar with the prices of materials in the border area and was good at price cuts, so Mulan handed over the purchase work to him.

After the guys at Sihai Cargo Store unloaded the things from the cart, they were not surprised by the officials who came to move goods. After the delivery, they drove the car back.

"Old Li, thank you for your hard work."

Mulan calculated according to Li Laogen's offer and found that Li Laogen did have some tricks. The price of the things he bought was about 10% lower than when he went to Gubei Village to buy them. The money he saved was no small amount.

"Not hard, it should be, it should be."

Li Laogen said with a smile that Gao Jin asked him to do things with Mulan, so he naturally had to perform well. He knew very well that the Sihai Goods Store in Gubeizhai was the backer of Gao Jin. No wonder Gao Jin dared to say that he could settle the matter of killing officials.

The prisoners quickly moved the goods into the valley. Two large houses had been built on the open space inside. Gao Jin ordered Mulan to build this place into their stronghold outside the wall. Although the valley is deserted, it is all plains and not far from Gubei Village, so it is very convenient to purchase supplies.

When he returned to the valley, Li Laogen immediately built a house with the prisoners of the government army who were criticizing craftsmanship. He traveled around the country for many years and had done everything. The dozen prisoners of the government army he picked out had also worked as bricklayers and carpenters in the Hekou Fort, and they were very quick to do their work.

After the servants finished the training, the prisoners of the government army who had no work to do were shouted by Dong Bufang and started practicing with swords and guns. However, most of them were not as energetic as those of their colleagues who were chosen to build houses.

"It's loose and looks like a soldier. These people are considered useless."

Seeing that Lao He and the old soldiers were still the same, Dong Bufang couldn't help but shake his head. Gao Jin was sure to win the official positions of the hundreds of households in Hekou Fort, so he naturally wanted him to train these Hekou Fort's official troops.

However, among the prisoners of the official army, several young students performed well. They were serious and hardworking during the training. The names of these people were recorded by Dong Bufang, and they just waited for Gao Jin to come back before reporting.

At the long table, Mulan held a pen and recorded things on paper. Before leaving that day, Gao Jin instructed her to record all those skilled in the prisoners of the government army.

These days, Li Laogen built a hall with the selected official prisoners. Mulan asked him to see some tricks. Among the fifteen prisoners, several of them were really capable, so she recorded their names and specialties, and as for the others, she wrote a simple note.

As noon approached, the original fire-headed soldiers among the prisoners of the government army made fire and cooked. Soon the aroma of the cooked rice wafted, causing the prisoners of the government army who were practicing to be excited and sold more strength when waving their weapons.

The whole piece of marinated horse meat was chopped and thrown into a large pot to stew, and it was not served until it was crispy. The servants lined up to eat it first. Basically, the large pieces of meat were divided by them, and the remaining minced meat was the turn of the prisoners behind the government army.

The golden rice was poured with greasy braised horse meat. For the prisoners of the government army, it was the happiest time of the day. After changing to the fortress, they could not see meat every day.

Whether it is the servants or the prisoners of the government, they squat on the ground while eating, holding bowls and swallowing and chewing. Many people think that it would be nice if they could live like this.

Mulan looked at the servants who even squatted in a straight line during meals and felt that Gao Jin was right. As long as he got used to many things, there was nothing strange about it.

"Manager Wei, there is not much horse meat left. They asked me to ask you..."

Cui Yang'er said a little embarrassedly, not daring to look up at Mulan. He is the youngest among the Huotou Army and is also timid. After seeing how Mulan whipped a few lazy old Huotou Army with a whip, he seemed to have seen a cat mouse in front of Mulan, and was so scared that he was dying.

Mulan looked up at the several fire-headed soldiers who nodded and bowed to her in front of the big pot not far away, and frowned. She didn't expect that the meat would be consumed so quickly during this period. You must know that more than twenty injured and useless war horses were killed that day, and all of them were marinated and brought back.

"I understand. After you finish eating, you will go and catch the sheep and kill them, but remember to come to my place to report."

Mulan responded. The money spent during this period was not much. After all, this place is close to the wall, and there have been no droughts and floods in the past two years. The food prices are still stable. Although Gubeizhai is more expensive than inside the wall, it is not much expensive.

After eating the horse meat, she wanted to move the animals she brought back. Mulan thought of Gao Jin's instructions and felt a big deal. Gao Jin asked the servants to see the meat twice a day. She also knew that according to Dong Bufang and Ma Jun's life-like training, if the servants don't eat well, they will not be able to hold on at all.

These days, even though the servants were practicing all day long, they were still strong. In Dong Bufang's words, everyone can fight for half a day even if they wear armor, and they can be called elite in the General's Mansion.

A fence was built in the valley to see the animals in the team. The camels and horses that Zhang Gui snatched from the caravan that day, and the other animals were collected by Mulan from Gubei Village, mainly cattle and sheep.

The cow cannot move, and those dozens of sheep are enough to last ten days and half a month, so Mulan really hopes that Gao Jin can come back quickly. She is in charge of money, but only spending money but not investing, which really makes her feel uneasy.

"Grandpa Qi said that if the armor on his body is strong, he will stab me and not hurt me. I will be clumsy in my skills and will kill him the second time."

After dinner, Dong Bufang took advantage of the rest of his family members to tell them some common sense in the army, such as the importance of wearing armor. Since the Battle of Bozhou, there has been no major battles in the Jiubian. For example, in Yulin Town, only Hetao Mongolia occasionally gathered thousands of people to invade the border, plundered at the walls and retreated.

Over the past ten years, the fortresses and pier guards on the side walls have long been lax in their military preparations. Ordinary soldiers cannot even have enough food to eat, and they have no strength to wear armor to fight. Just like the official army of Hekou Fort, except for Zhang Gui and his subordinates wearing armor, everyone else only wore mandarin duck battle jackets and was unwilling to wear cotton armor.

"Tao Dong, but I heard that the armor of the government army weighs 80 kilograms?"

"You go and listen to those scholars' bragging. The 80-pound heavy armor is covered with all the clothes, and only those servants who are in the door can afford to wear it."

Dong Bufang looked at the servant who was asking questions and scolded, saying that he had obtained a letter from Gao Jin that these servants would wear armor in the future, not cloth armor and cotton armor, but fish scale armor worn by elite troops in the past, which was of great weight.

Mulan was so stunning that she was a woman, she had been riding a horse with Gao Jin since she was a child and her martial arts skills were not bad, but Gao Jin never wanted to lead her to fight, so because she was a woman and was born with a bad physique and could not wear armor. She was a burden when she went to the battlefield.

"Don't follow the army from outside the mouth, and hold eighty kilograms of combat equipment; the helmet and brain bag occupy seven, the neck covers the neck, and the five sacs are covered, and only the armor is covered with forty-five, the waist, knife and bone are two and four equal. The fine iron tools are at the beginning, and the brightness is better than silver day and night. Two or five bows and arrows are their clothes, and eight are fixed. The body is heavy and difficult to bear, so you must immediately take the severity."

Mulan suddenly remembered this song she had heard in Shenmu Castle, and couldn't help but chant it, and asked the servants to look at each other. They all knew that although Mulan was a woman, she could ride a horse and shoot arrows, and she was not ruthless when she hit people with a whip.

"Teacher Dong, is there any military armor suitable for women to wear?"
Chapter completed!