Chapter 39: The First Heroic City in the Western Regions (End of this volume)
After working for most of the night, Lu Xiao finally succeeded in making a real mooncake. He even used a knife to carefully carve a circle of patterns on it, and then sent it to the oven for baking. In the end, it came out without any deformation.
Lu Xiao didn't dare to comment on the taste, but in terms of shape, it already resembled mooncakes from later generations.
The girl looked at the 'exquisite' mooncake and was so excited that she didn't want to eat it. She held the mooncake and admired it all night. Finally, she put the mooncake on a plate, put it on the table, and told everyone who came that it was made by Lu Xiao.
.
Lu Xiao was speechless at her childishness, but he was also happy to see her truly happy. The two had known each other for many years, and this was the purest smile the girl had ever seen.
Half a month later, Xiang Qiezheng bought back more than forty teenage children from several distant cities according to Lu Xiao's request.
There are insufficient products in the frontier, and the people at the bottom are living in poverty. These half-grown children often don't have enough to eat. Many families do not really sell their children, but they simply cannot afford to raise them. They can only let their children live on the streets.
Some of these children were sold together by human traffickers, and many even went to the human market on their own. They knew that they could still have food to eat if they were bought by others. If no one bought them, they would have to wait to die.
Therefore, not only did Xiang Qiezheng do this without any difficulty, many adults even cried and begged him to buy the child.
It's not that Lu Xiao doesn't want to buy more, it's just that the grain reserves in the village don't support buying too many children. If he hadn't killed the horse bandits to get a lot of livestock and exchanged a lot of money, even these children wouldn't necessarily be there.
Can afford it.
"I'll leave this matter to you. Let me take good care of myself for a month and lay the foundation. Then I can start training."
"Don't worry, I'm an expert at this."
Xiang Qiezheng was not bragging. After all, he was a master of swordsmanship in Jiangnan back then. He had a sect. Teaching apprentices was his old profession.
A month later, Li Guangyin returned from his business trip. But this time, he did not bring the spices and gems from the Western Regions that he was supposed to bring back. Instead, he brought back a large amount of food that the town needed.
Lu Xiao knew that this was his certificate of surrender, so he accepted the grain and gave it to Li Guangyin to a lot of livestock that he could no longer feed, so that he could rush back as soon as possible.
And just after Li Guangyin's caravan left, Lu Xiao found Ding'an again.
"We need more caravans."
.....................
Time flies by and ten years have passed.
Outside a city, more than a dozen caravans lined up several hundred meters in length to wait at the door. Some of them looked anxious, as if it was their first time here. But some of them were calm and relaxed, joking with their companions. It was obvious that they were right.
This kind of thing is commonplace.
In the caravan at the front, two people were having a conversation.
"Master, is City Lord Lu really that powerful?"
"Awesome? Haha, the word "awesome" is not enough to describe him. Look at this city, can you tell anything?"
The steward looked up at the city in front of him and felt that the walls of this city were much taller than other cities. But other than that, there was nothing special about it.
"This city is taller and more majestic than other cities, but other than that, it's not any different, right?"
"Yes, it's no different. But do you know that fourteen years ago, this place was just a small town with a population of several thousand people. There were no city walls, no guards, horse bandits were rampant around it, and the people inside couldn't even eat. Later.
, City Lord Lu appeared.
He spent four years planning to wipe out all the horse bandits in the surrounding area. Then he spent ten years building the dilapidated town into the current Yunxiao City. The current Yunxiao City has a population of more than 200,000.
The three thousand people who control strings are already one of the best forces in the border areas of the Western Regions. Just last year, the emperor personally conferred the title of Transfer Envoy. Now it is a legitimate and powerful city in the Western Regions."
As soon as he finished speaking, it seemed that the time had come, and the city gate was slowly opening. Just as the steward was about to greet the other men to enter the city, he saw the young master holding him back.
"Don't move, it's not for us to leave."
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of horse hooves was heard not far away. Looking back, he saw a hundred knights galloping towards them. They were fully covered with scimitars and hard bows, and wore light armor. Although their faces were full of wind and sand, they were still
It still gives people a fierce and capable feeling.
"Could that be..."
"The Gale Group is the Gale Group that travels across the Western Regions. The leader of the Gale Group is named Li Ding'an. Speaking of which, he is from the south of the Yangtze River in the Central Plains. He later fled to the Western Region to seek life."
"I see, the young master is very familiar with the Gale Group?"
"Old Sun, you are here for the first time this year. You don't know the story between Brother Li and me. Back then, I almost accepted Brother Li as my master. If dad hadn't stopped me, I would be in the Gale Group now.
The deputy commander."
"Young Master is joking. The Li family's fortune is still waiting for you to inherit it. Besides, your current swordsmanship is one of the best in Jiangnan."
"Forget it. I used to feel the same way. When I came here last year, I wanted to challenge Brother Li, but I was beaten by Brother Li. After asking, Brother Li told me a truth.
How could swordsmen from a prosperous and peaceful place like Jiangnan be compared with swordsmen from the frontier?
Back then, he went deep into the den of horse bandits alone, and killed as many as 80 horse bandits, if not a hundred. After the establishment of Yunxiao City, he led troops to fight against the Xixia army more than once. I have never even killed a chicken in my life.
, how can it be possible to compare with them."
"That's what the young master said. Hey, the side door is open. Should we go this way?"
"That's right, let's go. Get the access token ready. Remove the raincloths on the goods. They will be inspected later."
"No, young master, our goods still need to be inspected?" The housekeeper was shocked. Didn't he say that the master and Lord Lu are old friends? Why don't you have any face?
"Haha, don't say it's me who's here. Even if my father comes, he still won't be able to avoid inspection. The Xixia people have been restless recently, and inspections here are particularly strict. But our Li family's goods still have some respect. They just
It’s just a show, don’t worry about it.”
"Okay." The housekeeper immediately went down and directed the men to transport more than sixty carts of goods into the city.
As the caravan slowly entered, Li Guangwu, the housekeeper and others finally entered the Yunxiao City.
Not to mention the housekeeper who was so shocked by the scene in front of him that he could not speak incoherently. Even Li Guangwu, who had been here more than ten times, was feeling emotional in his heart. Because every time he came to this city, he could feel that the city became more complete and more refined.
Ordered a portion.
The Central Avenue entering the city alone is wide enough for four carriages to pass unobstructed, which always gives people a shocking feeling at the first moment.
Lu Xiao doesn't understand architecture, let alone art. Therefore, he only has one requirement for the construction of the city, which is neatness. The houses on both sides of the street are all identical symmetrical two-story buildings. The uniform green tiles and white ash give
It gives people a feeling of cleanliness and tidiness.
At the same time, this kind of neat and uniform building stretches for hundreds of meters, which can give people a visual extension and shock.
At this time, restaurants and shops on both sides of the street have begun to welcome customers. Some vendors setting up stalls have also begun to appear on both sides of the road. The chaotic shouts bring a hint of fireworks to this hard-core city.
Naturally, Central Avenue was not prepared for these foreign merchants. The market where they traded was in another place. There were already many Hu merchants waiting there.
After the establishment of Yunxiao City in the past few years, Lu Xiao was not satisfied with the result of being a trade transit station. He wanted more, so he contacted more caravans, including both Han and Hu people.
In order to attract caravans to trade directly in his own city, Lu Xiao only collected half of the taxes of other cities and promised a fair and safe trading environment.
For this promise, Yunxiao City went through a whole year of war. Both the surrounding border cities and the barbarian cities further west were dissatisfied with Lu Xiao's arbitrary price changes and provoked several wars.
In the most tragic incident, the Gale Regiment suffered more than half casualties. However, they were able to repulse the enemy in the end. Today's Yunxiao City, which has its unique position in the frontier area, was fought out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
But Lu Xiao knew very well that all this was just the beginning. After all, the country closest to Yunxiao City was Xixia. Especially since Li Yuanhao succeeded to the throne not long ago, he was a famous tyrant. He was also an out-and-out mad dog. No surprise.
If so, this guy would launch an attack on the Song Dynasty soon after he succeeded to the throne.
Lu Xiao's Yunxiao City is located at the junction of the Song Dynasty and Xixia. Once a war breaks out, Yunxiao City will never be able to stay out of it.
At this time, a guard walked in.
"City Lord, Li Guangwu is here."
Lu Xiao's eyes lit up and he walked out of the hall. He met Li Guangwu who was waiting outside.
"How about it?"
"It's all done, Uncle Lu."
"Okay, take me to see it."
Li Guangwu took Lu Xiao to the warehouse he rented. Then he lifted the raincloth on the goods, revealing the porcelain and silk underneath. At this time, several guys came over and moved the top silk and porcelain away.
.revealing the real goods underneath.
It's a stomach, and it's obviously a sophisticated Song Army standard armor.
In ancient times, swords and swords were not the same concept as the level of ban on armor and stomach. Every household had knives. Even if you had a sword, as long as you didn't offend anyone, in most cases, the government would turn a blind eye.
Close one eye.
But armored stomach is different. Hiding armored stomach privately is punishable as a crime of treason. Mainly because on ancient battlefields, soldiers who wear armored stomach and soldiers who do not wear armored stomach are completely different concepts. In this regard, armored stomach and armored stomach are different.
Crossbows are on the same level.
During this trip, Li Guangwu got 400 pairs of infantry armor for Lu Xiao. This was the pinnacle of ancient armor and the best infantry armor. Although Lu Xiao's army was mainly cavalry, he
It is very clear that when the real war begins in the future, I will mainly fight defensive wars. Therefore, stepping into the first team is what is really needed.
In addition to Li Guangwu, several other caravans closely related to the Li family also brought Lu Xiao a large number of bows and arrows, crossbows, as well as various light armor, horse gear and other war necessities.
Lu Xiao started making conscious preparations two years ago. In the past few years, he has accumulated more than 5,000 sets of infantry armor, 4,000 sets of light armor, and countless other swords, guns and horse equipment.
At the same time, there is also a more important food reserve. In Yunxiao City now, the food reserve is enough for the entire city to consume for more than half a year. Once the war starts, a centralized supply system will be used. There will be no problem in sustaining it for a year.
Looking at all these reserves, Lu Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had used what he had learned to prepare as much as possible. In this life, limited by his origin, he could not change the general trend of the world. But this Yunxiao
The city is enough for him to leave his name in history.
Eleven months later, news came from Xixia that Li Yuanhao had officially launched an army against the Song Dynasty. Lu Xiao then announced that the entire Yunxiao City had entered a state of war.
Six months later, a hundred thousand troops from Xixia besieged Yunxiao City. For three months, they failed to capture it and had to withdraw.
For a time, Yunxiao City was famous all over the world and was known as the most powerful city in the Western Region.
