Not long after, Xu Tianfeng walked into Pei Xiaoer's barracks with a heavy body, performed a military salute, and said respectfully: "General, fortunately, I have found the hidden weapons workshop of the Fan family."

"Quickly, tell me how you found out?" Pei Xiaoer's joy was beyond words, urging Xu Tianfeng.

"Yes, General. The general followed Fan Shizhe all the way to Jiexiu. After leaving the horse outside the city, the general dressed up in disguise and sneaked into Jiexiu. After Fan Shizhe returned to Jiexiu, then Fan Shizhe

He was so alert that he hid at home and didn't go out. He had no choice but to pretend to be a beggar and squat near his house. At midnight the next day, a man came out of the backyard sneakily.

I sent someone to follow him, but found that the man just walked around Jiexiu and came back.

The general thought that they would not send anyone that night, so he sent someone back to rest. Who would have expected that in the middle of the night, someone would sneak out over the wall. Fortunately, I got up in the middle of the night to relieve myself, and unintentionally

I bumped into this person and followed him to discover the place where the Fan family's craftsmen are hidden. It's a blessing to say the least."

"This is also the result of your guarding me day and night, otherwise I wouldn't have discovered that person's sneaky behavior." Pei Xiaoer praised. A boss should see the achievements of his subordinates and give them incentives in a timely manner. "Those workshops

How many places are there in total? Where are they?"

"General, there are at least three places. One is located in Hot Spring Town not far from Jiexiu, one is located in Huqi Mountain near Fenzhou, and the last one is closest to here, in Yinquan Mountain less than fifty miles southwest of Wen County."

Pei Xiaoer took out the map and outlined the specific locations of these three places one by one. He looked at the map and fell into deep thought. He was the closest and best place to attack in Hidden Spring Mountain. Of course he was out of the way.

Things are also easy to remind people of themselves. The other two locations are too far away, and it takes three or four days to go back and forth. But the advantage is that others will not easily doubt themselves. After all, businessmen still don’t like gangsters.

Pei Xiaoer also didn't want his reputation to be so bad that smugglers from other places would not dare to do business with him.

"In your opinion, which of these three places is the largest?" Pei Xiaoer couldn't make a decision at the moment, but if he had to take risks, he would naturally choose the one with the greatest benefits.

"Back to General, it's Huqi Mountain. Huqi Mountain is hidden in a hidden mountain col. The exit of the mountain col is even guarded by a city wall, but its size is indeed twice that of the other two places combined." Xu Tianfeng answered decisively, no

Without the slightest hesitation, he said, "But there are many guards at Huqi Mountain. Judging from the future, there will be at least 5,000 people."

"Five thousand people?" Pei Xiaoer took a breath. You must know that the Fan family is not a rebel army. In the Ming Dynasty, if a general soldier can support more than a thousand servants, it is considered quite good, and they can all be used as soldiers.

The officers and soldiers were the main force. Unexpectedly, a small businessman in Shanxi actually had more than 5,000 servants.

No, that's not right. Huqishan is just a stronghold guarded by the Fan family. There are already three such strongholds known, and there are still many unexplored ones. Plus the escort personnel of the Fan family who deliver goods everywhere,

As well as the caretakers and servants in various houses, all these miscellaneous additions, the total number of servants in the Fan family may not be more than 20,000.

20,000 servants! Although we are in troubled times and the labor cost is low, we can still get a glimpse of the Fan family's family background from this. How much money has it earned from smuggling with the Manchus outside the customs.

Although Pei Xiaoer coveted the craftsmen's workshops in Huqi Mountain, he still rationally did not choose this place as his goal. "You should tell us about the situation in Yinquan Mountain, which is closest to us."

"Yes." Xu Tianfeng paused, organized his words, and replied: "Yinquan Mountain is located on the top of a mountain. It is surrounded by cliffs. There is only one path leading to the top of the mountain. It can be said that one person can't open it.

Perhaps it is because of the terrain that is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the water resources on the mountain are difficult to replenish, that the Fan family has very few servants here. I did not go up to check, but I estimate that there are only five or six hundred at most.

Human appearance."

There were five to six hundred people, which was not a large number, but just how steep could the terrain be? Thinking of this, Pei Xiaoer decided to go and have a look overnight before making a decision.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Pei Xiaoer mounted his horse and left the camp with Xu Tianfeng and seven or eight cavalry battalion soldiers. He was knee-deep in snow and galloped towards Yinquan Mountain in the southwest of Wen County.

In less than an hour, they had arrived in the upper mountainous area of ​​Luliang. After walking around in the mountains for another four or five hours, they finally came to an inconspicuous small mountain peak and stopped. Xu Tianfeng pointed at this small mountain and said to Pei Xiaoer.

: "General, it's on this mountain."

Pei Xiaoer rode on his horse and looked at the hill. Although the mountain was not high, it was still several hundred meters high. However, the surrounding mountains were cut like a knife and an axe, and the entire slope even reached ninety degrees. Pei Xiaoer was still at first.

I was thinking about using a rope to climb up from the back mountain, but after seeing the shape of the mountain, I immediately gave up my attention.

"General, look over there. There is a path over there. People who go up the mountain take that path. There is no other way." Pei Xiaoer looked in the direction of Xu Tianfeng's right finger and saw only the direction of the hill.

On the west side, under the dense branches, a winding path that has been trampled by people is vaguely visible. If it hadn't just snowed, the path would be more obvious against the white ice and snow, and it would be difficult to detect.

However, this path is also extremely difficult to walk. Not only is the slope steep, but the path is also very narrow. In some places, only two people can pass side by side. It is truly a dangerous place that only one person can pass through, and if someone throws a stone from the top of the mountain,

, then no matter how many people there are, there won’t be enough to fill it in. It can be seen that the Fan family has obviously put a lot of thought into choosing this place to set up their workshop.

After Pei Xiaoer saw the situation on this mountain, his face became extremely ugly. He lowered his head and didn't know what he was thinking. The difficulty of attacking this mountain far exceeded his expectation. He couldn't take this mountain head-on. He had to be like a

Ways to outsmart micro-business.

"How come these grandsons of the Fan family have built their workshop in such a horrible place and are not afraid of exhausting themselves from transporting things?" Seeing Pei Xiaoer's solemn expression, Xu Tianfeng cursed loudly, as if to vent his anger on Pei Xiaoer.
Chapter completed!